


Hiding in Plain Sight

by noo



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community: startrekbigbang, F/M, Federal Bureau of Investigation, M/M, Russian Mafia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-25
Updated: 2011-04-13
Packaged: 2017-10-18 00:32:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noo/pseuds/noo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Special Agent James T. Kirk has never been one to follow the rules. It's what got him in trouble in Iowa, after all. But he's taken to disregarding his superior's orders to investigate one Dr. Leonard McCoy, who has a small practice in the sleepy suburbs of San Francisco. But Jim suspects there may be more to the doctor than the public front and while investigating McCoy's Russian organized crime connections, he discovers how far the rabbit hole can take him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Hiding in Plain Sight  
>  **Author:** [](http://nikki4noo.livejournal.com/profile)[**nikki4noo**](http://nikki4noo.livejournal.com/)  
>  **Artist:** [](http://flyingmachine.livejournal.com/profile)[**flyingmachine**](http://flyingmachine.livejournal.com/)  
>  **Mixer:** [](http://mme-riphaldin.livejournal.com/profile)[**mme_riphaldin**](http://mme-riphaldin.livejournal.com/)  
>  **Series:** ST XI  
>  **Character/Pairing(s):** Kirk/McCoy, Spock/Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Pike, Hannity, Cupcake, Chapel/OMC, Rand, Nero, Ayel and OC’s  
>  **Rating:** NC-17  
>  **Word Count:** 56,463  
>  **Warnings:** AU, violence, handcuffs (yes this does need it's own warning where Jim Kirk is involved), discussions of sexuality and sexual practices. Also no cats were harmed in the writing of this fic.
> 
>  **Summary:** Special Agent James T. Kirk has never been one to follow the rules. It's what got him in trouble in Iowa, after all. But he's taken to disregarding his superior's orders to investigate one Dr. Leonard McCoy, who has a small practice in the sleepy suburbs of San Francisco. But Jim suspects there may be more to the doctor than the public front and while investigating McCoy's Russian organized crime connections, he discovers how far the rabbit hole can take him. **Link to Art:** [Art link](http://flyingmachine.livejournal.com/249161.html)  
>  **Link to Mix:** [Mix link one](http://mme-riphaldin.livejournal.com/33469.html) and [Mix link two](http://nikki4noo.livejournal.com/92944.html) (this second mix was created only yesterday when it seemed that my fanmixer was going to fall through)
> 
>  **A/N:** Where to start on the thanks? I should start with my alpha’s, [](http://selinamoonfire.livejournal.com/profile)[**selinamoonfire**](http://selinamoonfire.livejournal.com/) , [](http://7ofeleven.livejournal.com/profile)[**7ofeleven**](http://7ofeleven.livejournal.com/) and [](http://lesserpanda.livejournal.com/profile)[**lesserpanda**](http://lesserpanda.livejournal.com/) , so I will. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart ladies. They have been with me from the start of this process until the very end. Kicked me up the backside, told me to write more, to not stop, don’t be so mean to the boys, laughed at my ridiculousness and 55k words later it seemed I might have listened to them.  
> I also need to give a lot of thanks for the two that came after them and did a read through and offered beta suggestions in [](http://aquila-star.livejournal.com/profile)[**aquila_star**](http://aquila-star.livejournal.com/) and [](http://dizilla.livejournal.com/profile)[**dizilla**](http://dizilla.livejournal.com/). Again, ladies, thank you very much.
> 
> Moreover, I owe a huge vote of thanks for the photographer who took these pictures that inspired the whole thing. I took one look at [this picture](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4669020536_85b2f320cd_z.jpg) and thought that it could be Kirk as a cop taking down notes, then where I saw [this one](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4669020388_3f965ffde3_z.jpg), the positioning of his arms made me think that he was handcuffed and that suit screamed mobster to me. So, a FBI/Gangster AU idea sprung up in my brain. Everything I wrote in this story can be related back to the moment I saw those pictures.

“You know, ‘Bones’, we really ought to stop meeting like this,” Jim said as he bent McCoy further forward to snap on the handcuffs.

McCoy turned his head to glare at Jim. Jim’s hands stilled just above the metal cuffs. He could feel the fine blend of the light wool of McCoy’s suit under his fingers.

“It’s McCoy, kid,” he growled at Jim.

Jim patted McCoy on the shoulder before walking around him so that they were standing face to face. He took out his little notebook from the inside pocket of his jacket, clicked his pen open and started to write down McCoy’s name.

“That’s right, Leonard H. McCoy. Hey, what’s the H stand for anyway?” Jim asked.

“Look it up, sunshine,” Leonard replied sardonically, although Jim noted the slight smirk on the man’s face.

“‘Sunshine’. ‘Kid’. You know you really should just pick one nickname and stick with it,” Jim advised. “That’s why I like ‘Bones’. Much better than Leonard.”

“Are you disparaging the name my mother chose for me?” Leonard drawled.

“You southern boys sure do like to talk fancy. This is the 90’s, man, these days I think you are supposed to say ‘yo mama’,” Jim smiled widely.

“Yeah, well, you ain’t from around here either,” Leonard replied as he glanced around the warehouse.

Plain clothes Federal Agents wandered amongst the local San Fran cops and the mostly Russian ex-pats that they were arresting. Some had already been carted off. Others were causing disturbances with loud protestations about their innocence or yelling at their comrades in quick-fire Russian. Leonard and Jim were a ways off from the others.

Leonard had been heading towards a back office when Jim and his partner had burst through the office door, guns drawn, and blocked his way. Although Jim’s gun was now holstered under his black suit. His long fingers were gripping tight on his little notepad, all the better for him to jot down notes.

Leonard leaned slightly forward to see what he was writing. He knew a small smattering of Russian and from what he could see, Jim was accurately transcribing some of the comments being thrown back and forth between the others.

Jim snapped the black case of the notebook closed.

“Nosy bastard, aren’t you?” Jim said.

One of Leonard’s eyebrows twitched up in response, but he held his tongue for the moment.

“Sulu,” Jim yelled towards his partner, “taking this one back for questioning. Olsen can give you a lift back when you have finished here.”

“Captain’s on his way, Jim,” Sulu said as he walked over towards the two of them. “You should wait.”

“Nah, got some stuff here that I think we need exploring, tell Pike I’ll see him later once I get Curly onto it,” Jim grabbed hold of Leonard’s arm and tugged to make him walk with him.

Leonard heard the slap of frustration, that he deduced came from Sulu hitting his thighs, as they walked away from him and towards the open doorway. He had to squint his eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight coming in.

“Not one for following the rules are you?” Leonard asked as Jim guided him through the doorway.

“You’re one to talk. I’m not the one who was just arrested with a bunch of Russian mafia guys,” Jim said as he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and tossing them around in his hand until he found the one for his car.

Jim unlocked the passenger side door to the dark green sedan that just screamed ‘look at me I’m an undercover police car’ to Leonard. It was too clean, had no markings on it anywhere and had a distinct lack of stickers.

“Now, no throwing accusations around. Those are legitimate businessmen in there,” Leonard said as Jim opened the back door to the car and put his hand on Leonard’s head. “Just like you Feds to accuse people with different accents.”

Jim just shook his head at the protestations and pushed gently to direct Leonard to get into the back of the car.

“So says the guy who is wearing a suit worth at least $500. Yeah, real legitimate,” Jim said.

“What, you aren’t going to buckle me in?” Leonard responded. “I’ve heard about your driving!”

“Fine!” Jim snapped as he leaned back into the car to pull the belt over and buckle it in.

He turned to find hazel eyes contemplating him seriously. They were close enough that Jim could see the small freckles dotting Leonard’s face and hidden by his stubble if you were standing a normal distance away from him. There was one bigger mole just up from his lip that Jim found intriguing.

“All secured tight, sir?” Leonard drawled at him quietly, investing a hint of mockery into the ‘sir’.

“Sir? I like that. It’s nice when gangsters know their place,” Jim responded, still not moving out of the car.

“Oh, I ain’t a gangster, kid,” Leonard smiled slyly at him.

Jim could have sworn that Leonard’s eye-line had dropped to stare at his lips. He took a deep breath in as silence spread between them.

“So, heard about my driving have you? What else have you heard?” Jim asked.

Leonard just snorted in response. “Fishing for compliments are ya? We gonna sit here all day or you going to do some of that driving?”

Jim opened his mouth to respond to the comments and then thought better of it. He snapped his mouth shut, nodded once at Leonard and got back out of the car, making sure the child lock was in place before closing the door and heading around to the drivers side.

He started the car and pulled out from the warehouse lot and headed off towards downtown. As he wove in and out of the traffic trying to find the right lane, moving at the speed that he wanted, he noticed Leonard twitching in his seat.

“Not too tight are they?” he asked as he turned his head to look at Leonard.

“Keep your eyes on the God dammed road!” Leonard complained. “I’m fine. Well, I would be if I wasn’t traveling in this death trap.”

“Okay, okay,” Jim cajoled as he turned back to watch the traffic. He still kept glancing up to check on his passenger, who was looking a little green around the gills.

“I’ve seen you driving so you don’t have a problem with cars,” Jim stated.

“It’s the idiots behind the wheels I don’t trust,” Leonard grumbled as he looked out the side window.

“Control freak, huh?” Jim asked.

Leonard flashed a quick look of annoyance towards Jim, before turning to stare back out the window again.

“And the silent treatment now. That’s ok. When we get back to the office, there is a nice room waiting there just for me and you to have a cozy little chat,” Jim said as he turned onto Golden Gate Avenue.

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Jim pulled into the underground garage and got himself and Leonard out of the car. As the door shut, it reverberated across the cavernous space interrupting the silence. Jim kept his hand on the small of Leonard’s back as they waited for the elevator to arrive. Just below his finger tips were the cuffed hands of Leonard. Jim noted that he had clasped his hands together instead of letting them hang loose like some people did; fingers curled up so that Jim could see his short nails, clean and freshly trimmed.

The ding to announce the arrival of the elevator made Jim jump slightly, but he covered it by gently pushing Leonard to enter it first, once the doors had fully opened. He dropped his hand quickly as soon as Leonard had stepped in and turned around to face the front, head tilted up to stare at a spot where the ceiling met the wall. Jim pressed the button for the 13th floor and then leaned back against the railing. His eye line moved from the door to the side, over to the panel of floor lights, up to the indicator of where they were and anywhere else that was not on the man standing still beside him.

Another ding announced their arrival. Jim had been amazed that they hadn’t stopped at any of the other floors. This had to have been the first time in any of the elevators, since he had been transferred to San Francisco six months ago, that he had a ride from his entry to the floor level he wanted with no interruptions.

The doors opened to reveal the reception area through the glass. Above the reception desk, manned by a young blonde woman, was a logo with the words, “Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Francisco” around the base of it.

Jim grabbed hold of Leonard’s arm and directed him out of the elevator and towards the glass doors. As he paused to pull open the door, he noted that he and Leonard had been moving together easily as they walked. He didn’t have to drag him or fight against him like a normal recalcitrant suspect. It was just another layer in the mystery of ‘Bones’ that Jim was determined to get to the bottom of. It might also have helped that Pike had told him to forget about the doctor, and focus more on other suspects within the group.

“Hey Janice,” Jim said as he entered the reception area. “Is three free?”

Janice nodded at him as she was still engaged on the phone. She reached down and pulled a key out from underneath her desk and held it out for Jim to collect as they walked past. Jim smiled at her as he collected it. He watched as she took the opportunity to check out his suspect. She tilted her head enquiringly at Jim as she assured the person on the other end of the line that she would personally guarantee that they would be called back.

“Thanks and don’t you start,” Jim replied before he tugged gently on Leonard’s arm to direct him towards a corridor that ran parallel to the office space.

They walked down it, turned a corner and came upon a series of rooms with small glass windows in the door at eye level. The name plate indicated Interrogation One on the first door. Jim kept walking until he came upon the third door. He inserted the key and pushed open the door once it was unlocked. He pulled Leonard through the door and directed him towards a chair which would mean the occupant would almost have their back to the door. He pulled it out for Leonard to sit down upon it, the scrape loud against the linoleum.

Leonard raised an eyebrow at Jim as he sat down, but still did not say a word.

“Don’t go nowhere, I’ll be right back,” Jim said as he patted Leonard on the shoulder, ignoring the snort as he walked out of the room, locking the door and heading back along the corridor.

Jim walked quickly towards a far area in the open office space that was marked by various wires and machines being heaped over three desks.

“Hey, Pavel,” Jim greeted the very young looking man sitting behind a particularly large piece of equipment.

“Jim,” Pavel replied in his heavy Russian accent. “Were you not supposed to be at raid?”

Jim ripped out a few of the pages from his notebook and handed them over. “I was there, got someone to talk to though. Thought you might be interested in these. A few of the guys were yelling at each other and I tried to get it as accurately as possible. Pike will wanna know.”

With that, Jim walked back out of the main area and towards the interrogation room. Just before he unlocked and opened the door, he glanced into the room, expecting to see Leonard’s back. The bastard had moved chairs on him and was now facing the doorway.

“Comfortable?” Jim asked as he walked in.

“Could be better,” Leonard responded.

Jim pulled the now vacant chair off to the side and sat down. He extended his legs out in front of himself as he tossed his notepad onto the table.

Leonard lifted up his hands as far as they would go and shook them so that the cuffs rattled against the metal bar of the chair.

“Was that a hint?” Jim asked.

“Well, if you think you can’t handle me un-cuffed, leave ‘em be,” Leonard replied sardonically.

“Oh I can handle you just fine,” Jim said as he stood up and pulled out the keys to the handcuffs. He undid them and took them with him as he walked back to his chair. He then placed them on the table near to his notebook.

“Is that an invitation?” Leonard asked with one raised eyebrow while he stretched his arms out in front of him before rubbing at his wrists.

“So, what’s a nice guy like you doing with a bunch of thugs like those Russians?” Jim asked.

“Kid, if that’s the best you got, I doubt you manage to actually get laid,” Leonard snorted at him.

“I do just fine, thanks,” Jim replied.

“What do you do? Annoy them until they finally give in?” Leonard asked.

“Hey, if it works, don’t diss it man!” Jim smirked back.

“Kid, you have a lot to learn, otherwise you might end up with a Darwin Award,” Leonard shook his head at him. “Especially if you want them to give you the time of day more than once.”

“Yeah, well...” Jim started to say before snapping his mouth shut.

“Cat got your tongue?” Leonard asked.

“Really? Though, whatever,” Jim prevaricated as he waved a hand in the air. “A respectable doctor like you hanging around a warehouse like that?” Jim asked.

“You are one uninformed Fed if you haven’t read my file,” Leonard snorted in reply. “Any doctor worth their salt will go where they’re needed.”

Jim leaned forward in the chair and rested his arms on the table in front of him. “You think we have a file on you?”

Leonard tilted his head to the side as he looked at Jim, not saying a word. The look alone was enough communication.

“So why _were_ you at that warehouse, doctor?” Jim asked.

“Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Leonard replied.

“Those are some mighty interesting patients you have there,” Jim observed.

“If you say so.”

“You know those are some dangerous guys. Don’t you think it would be beneficial to have us in your corner looking out for you?” Jim offered.

“You have been ‘looking out’ for me enough already and if you are supposed to be hiding your interest, you’ve done a damn poor job,” Leonard replied as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Noticed me, did you?” Jim smirked at him.

“Kid, I would have to be blind and deaf not to have noticed you tailing me all over this city,” that eyebrow of Leonard’s was moving up again to express so eloquently his disdain for Jim’s tailing skills. “You and that partner of yours, although he does a better job of blending in than you. Mind you, stopping me in the middle of the street to introduce yourself and hand over your card, not really stealthy is it?”

“Well you are an interesting conundrum and I like puzzles,” Jim said. “So interesting that you haven’t lawyered up. Makes me wonder even more.”

“I got no call to lawyer up,” Leonard responded with a little smirk playing around his lips.

“Really?” Jim asked.

“Really,” Leonard replied. “Why would anyone need a lawyer if they ain’t done anything wrong?”

Jim sat back as he laughed at Leonard’s response. “In my experience, there isn’t anyone in this world who hasn’t done something wrong at some stage in their life.”

“Maybe they thought it was right at the time,” Leonard said.

“So, providing medical services for the Russian mob is ‘right’?” Jim pressed.

 _“I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick,”_ Leonard quoted at him.

“What is that, the Hippocratic Oath? What about the whole do no harm bit?” Jim responded.

“ _Primum non nocere_ isn’t part of the oath,” Leonard responded.

“Alright, what about affecting those people that they beat the crap out of the next day ‘cause you fixed them up?” Jim countered. “What about the victims’ families and their ability to make money?”

“I haven’t seen any of those guys do anything like that. Still, I’m a doctor, I treat everyone. Hell I might even have to treat _you_ one day,” Leonard said.

“I’m not that good with doctors,” Jim stated.

“Color me surprised,” Leonard said.

Jim pulled his notebook back towards himself and flipped it open so he could look at some notes. As he read, Leonard leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms so he could watch Jim do so.

“Not many doctors who live in the Avenues have suits tailor made for them,” Jim observed. “Or choose gangster pin stripe material.”

“Spend a lot of time looking at fashion, do you?” Leonard asked.

“Got to look your best,” Jim said.

“I’m not the only one in this room with a high end suit,” Leonard said, pointedly looking Jim up and down. From his black suit with the uncharacteristic thinner lapels, black tie and down towards the slim fitting black pants.

“Hah! So you admit you wear clothes that don’t match your salary?” Jim tilted his chin up at him and smirked.

“I never said that. Putting words in my mouth, Kirk?” Leonard arched a brow at him again.

Before Jim could respond, the door to the room opened forcefully and Special Agent in Charge, Captain Christopher Pike entered. He shut the door and stalked over towards Jim, the expression on his face enough to show that he wasn’t happy.

“Special Agent James Kirk, meet Special Agent Leonard McCoy,” Pike introduced before Jim could offer an explanation for the situation.

Jim had half stood out of his chair at Pike’s entrance but he stopped in shock at what the captain had revealed. Jim’s mouth was partly open, he had been ready to speak but now nothing came out .

“Told ya I didn’t need no lawyer, kid,” Leonard drawled at him, entirely too smugly for Jim’s liking.

Jim snapped his mouth shut and turned to glare at Leonard.

“This interview is over as of now, Kirk. Apologies, McCoy. There are some of the ‘comrades’ around though,” Pike pointed out to Leonard.

“One question, captain,” Jim said holding up a finger to stop Leonard from standing up and leaving the room. “Don’t you think this was information I should have been told, like, maybe, I don’t know, at the start of this investigation?” Jim accused.

“I told you, Kirk, to not focus on the doctor, but you didn’t listen,” Pike calmly replied.

“Yeah, but, you didn’t tell me why,” Jim said.

Pike just glared at his subordinate. “Mr. Kirk, when I give you an order I expect it to be followed through, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Jim said, although his tone was more resigned than respectful.

“You’ve got your hands full with this one,” Leonard observed towards Pike.

“Hey!” Jim protested. “I was just doing my job.”

Leonard crossed his arms as he leaned his hip against the table. “From what I hear tell, your idea of ‘doing your job’ is a loose definition to what everyone else thinks it means.”

“You sure are hearing a lot about me,” Jim replied.

“I wouldn’t presume it was a good hearing if I was you, kid,” Leonard said.

“Would you stop with the ‘kid’,” Jim complained.

Pike interrupted. “If you two are quite finished? Kirk, you have a report to get on my desk ASAP and no,” here Pike held up a hand, “you will not get Sulu to do it instead.” He pointed a finger at Jim, “Report. You. My desk,” the finger was now pointing back at himself as he finished his order.

“Fine,” Jim mumbled as he headed towards the door.

“He did us a favor though, sir,” Leonard said which had Jim stopping and turning back.

“How so, McCoy?” Pike asked.

“They still don’t fully trust me, but being arrested kinda gives me some credibility. Especially in a raid with them. I reckon they might just open up a little more,” Leonard explained.

“Possibly,” Pike conceded as he nodded at Leonard. “Kirk, get! And no mentioning this to any of the others.”

Jim snapped off a salute and then left the room.

“He’s...” Leonard paused as he contemplated the right words to describe Jim.

Pike just smiled and waited for Leonard to continue.

“Unique,” he eventually decided upon.

“I do seem to know how to find them,” Pike mused.

Leonard glared at Pike, “Get him at his lowest point too?”

“Something like that, Dr. McCoy,” Pike warned with his tone that that was the end of that conversation. “So no news for me at all?”

“Nope, although something seems to be building at the moment. We’ll see what your little raid creates,” Leonard replied.

“Fine, but report in as soon as you hear anything, as we agreed. Game face time, I’ll escort you back out,” Pike said as he walked over to the door and opened it.

Leonard exited the room and out into the corridor. He walked back along it and slipping back into his role, once Pike indicated which way to head. As they reached the reception area, Leonard made sure that he didn’t look back towards the office space; that he was focused on exiting out of the area. The receptionist was still on the phone, her headset perched carefully so that it didn’t obstruct her impressive hair-do. Leonard noted her sharp eyes following his and Captain Pike’s movements.

“My apologies, Doctor McCoy, that you were caught up in this situation. I hope that you have no hard feelings towards the Bureau?” Pike asked as he held out his hand towards Leonard.

“Certainly not, Captain, Pike, wasn’t it?” Leonard responded as he shook his hand. “We are all just doing our jobs. Although you might want to have some words with that overeager agent of yours.”

“Yes, Pike, and again sorry for any inconvenience,” the hand shake over, Pike dropped his arm to his side and nodded his farewell at Leonard.

Leonard turned and walked out of the reception area. As he stood waiting in front of the elevator, he could see the reflection of the area behind him in the shine of the steel doors. Pike was now leaning towards the receptionist, Janice, Leonard remembered, having a conversation. Further back, he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination that conjured up a tall, lean, blond man in a black suit standing up so he could see over the other cubicles and towards the reception area and possibly Leonard himself.

The elevator arrived and the reflection was gone as the doors opened. He stepped inside the elevator and out of sight of prying eyes.

Once outside the tall building, he headed over towards a pay phone that he saw on the other side of the avenue. He called a cab and waited for it by leaning up against one of the pillars of the office building behind him and, if his eye line kept being drawn towards the building on the other side of the road, setting sunlight glistening off the window frontage of it, he wasn’t going to tell anyone. He also made sure that he hadn’t been counting the floors until he got to 13 every time his gaze was drawn back to the building.

The cab finally arrived and Leonard gave the address for where he had parked his car that morning. He was glad that he hadn’t parked it in the warehouse lot as he was sure that every vehicle in there had been impounded by the Feds. His little habit of parking a bit away had finally come in handy.

Sure enough, his car was still parked where he left it. He paid the cab driver and pulled his keys out of his inside jacket pocket. He got into his car as quickly as possible as the light from the nearby street light was not enough to clearly illuminate inside. As he got in, he took a quick glance into the back seat, a habit that he had from God knows where. Nothing suspicious there, so he relocked the door from the inside and then started up the car, pulled out and headed to his apartment.

As he turned off the car and the lights, he noted the lack of lights from the upstairs apartment. A blessing that his upstairs neighbors were out for the evening. They weren’t the quietest pair in existence and Leonard had resorted to turning up the TV or the stereo in order to try and pretend that they didn’t exist.

He locked the car and headed over towards the front door of his ground floor apartment. He pushed it open, hand on the elaborate brass door knocker that seemed so out of place with the rest of the building. Definitely not Art Deco style, it was more old school Victoriana. After closing the door, he tossed his keys onto the side table by it, and then started to shrug out of his jacket. He didn’t turn on the lights, instead he walked, by memory, towards the kitchen area and the bottle of bourbon he had stashed there. He reached for the light switch for the hallway with one hand, but before he could flick it on, the lamp beside his chair in the living room turned on.

He spun around in shock to find a man sitting in the chair, one arm stretched up where he had turned on the lamp.

“Fuck! Vasily, you just scared the shit outta me,” Leonard said as clutched the jacket to his chest.

“I am sorry for that, Leonard,” Vasily said in his heavy Russian accent. “You should be more alert.”

“Yeah, well, I’m getting a whole lotta apologies today,” Leonard grumbled.

Vasily did not reply but his expression told Leonard in no uncertain terms that he needed to explain that further.

“You and the Feds,” Leonard said as he lowered his hands back to his sides. He was still clutching the jacket tightly in his hand though, putting creases in the fine wool where there should be none.

“Ah, yes, the Feds,” Vasily murmured. “I trust they did not inconvenience you too much?”

“Getting arrested is _never_ an inconvenience,” Leonard replied acerbically.

“I always suspect that you are a little, how you say? Sarcastic? When you speak thus,” Vasily warned.

“Look, I didn’t sign up to go around getting arrested here, Vasily, so I’m a little upset about the situation. Would really like to just sit back in my chair with a glass of bourbon and try and forget about the day,” Leonard sort of attempted to apologize for the tone that came so naturally to him. “You didn’t hire me for sweet talking.”

“My recollection of our first acquaintance, there was no ‘signing up’ involved,” Vasily said. “So, how was your тень? I heard that you left in his company for the Federal Offices.”

“Yeah, I got to visit and see what pretty little rooms they have,” Leonard admitted, ignoring the nickname of ‘Shadow’ that the Russians had bestowed on Kirk.

“What did Special Agent Kirk have to say to you?” Vasily asked.

“Mainly wanted to know what I was doing working for you. I done told him that a doctor treats whoever needs treating,” Leonard replied.

“Good. Good. Anything else тень offered?” Vasily pushed.

“Told me that I should look to them to watch my back and not you,” Leonard added.

“Ahh, me specifically?” Vasily asked.

“Nah, just Russians in general, didn’t say any names. I wasn’t in there too long before the Captain came in and let me go. I’m not of much interest to them I gather,” Leonard said.

“Interesting,” Vasily mused. “I think you are of much interest to Agent Kirk, but he is new in this town and distracted easily by a pretty face.”

Leonard’s eyes narrowed at the description of Kirk and also of himself, but he refrained from commenting.

“I shall think on this matter. It could be useful. Come see me tomorrow afternoon. I shall offer you good vodka and we shall discuss my decision and how you can be of further service to me,” Vasily said as he stood up from the chair.

Leonard stayed in place by the entrance to the hallway as Vasily headed towards the front door. Once the door had clicked shut behind Vasily, Leonard sagged in relief against the door frame. All the tension at Vasily’s presence ebbing out from him.

“Well, fuck,” Leonard said. “That ain’t good.”

***

Jim’s afternoon and evening was about comparable to Leonard’s. It started badly when he connected his toes solidly with his desk. His highly polished black shoes were no protection for him. The fact that the end result was his own fault for kicking the desk is something he attempted to ignore.

“I take it it didn’t go well?” Sulu asked as he leaned back in his chair to watch Jim.

“It went fine,” Jim snapped as he sank down into his own office chair.

“Looks like it,” Sulu commented in reply.

Jim pulled the keyboard towards himself with a not too gentle maneuver, next he moved the mouse with a viciousness that spoke eloquently of his annoyance at something. All the while this was happening, Sulu continued to lean back in his chair and rock gently as he watched him.

A couple of clicks of the mouse and Jim had opened up a blank report template. He started to enter the details, a scowl upon his face and the corner of his eye still on the open doorway to the reception area.

He was only partway through entering the basic time, date and location data when there was movement at the reception area. It had him standing up quickly and oblivious to the curiosity of the others around him. He could partially make out Leonard McCoy standing opposite Captain Pike. They appeared to shake hands and then McCoy was walking out of the office and waiting for the elevator to arrive. Meanwhile Pike was talking to Janice while Jim was still standing and watching McCoy. As the doors to the elevator opened, Pike turned his head and looked into the bull pen and directly at Jim, who with a pout, sat back down in his chair and returned to working on his report.

“Real fine,” Sulu drawled.

Jim picked up the yellow stress ball on his desk and chucked it at Sulu, scoring a direct hit on the chest.

Sulu laughed as he managed to catch it on the rebound. “So the good doctor was helpful?” Sulu pressed.

“Pike let him go,” Jim replied as he kept typing up the report in the dry, matter of fact language that was a must for them.

“Why?” Sulu asked as he tossed the ball from hand to hand.

“Dunno,” Jim replied again as noncommittally as he could.

“That’s weird,” Sulu said.

Jim reached over quickly and snatched the ball away from Sulu as he tossed it. He put it back on his desk and returned to typing.

After a short period, where he could feel Sulu’s eyes on him all the while, he turned to ask him a question. “Where’s Olsen?”

“He, Hannity and Burly are processing a couple of perps that have outstanding parole violations. Liaising with State, might have to pass ‘em over, but trying to see what we can get out of them first. That’s the thing with the Russians. Collar a couple and the next day more arrive on a boat you had no idea about,” Sulu was back to leaning in his chair.

“Wouldn’t have happened in Iowa,” Jim observed.

“Nothing happened in Iowa that wasn’t instigated by you, I am sure,” Pike interrupted. “How is that report coming?”

“Nearly finished,” Jim said as he turned to face Pike, who was standing at the side of Sulu’s desk.

Sulu appeared to be in two minds as to whether he should turn to face Pike or stay where he was and just twist his head to look at his boss. It seemed he decided to hedge his bets and half twist toward Pike, his eyes flicking back and forth slightly nervously between Jim and Pike.

“Sulu told me you had something you had to bring back early to Chekov. That you just couldn’t wait for my appearance,” Pike said.

“There sounded like some code being discussed, so I noted it down and brought it back for Pavel to work his magic on. It seemed to be something that might be useful for when we were questioning the suspects, sir,” Jim explained.

“Hmm,” Pike responded noncommittally. “Working hard, Agent Sulu?” Pike asked.

“Yes, Sir,” Sulu responded as he leaned forward to make his computer screen wake up from the sleep it had gone to while he had watched Jim.

“Good, I expect your report on my desk at the same time as Kirk’s,” Pike said before walking off towards his corner office.

“Don’t look at me,” Jim offered with a smirk towards his partner.

The pair of them worked in silence as they both hurried to finish off their reports. Jim waited until Sulu had finished his and they then sent them off, almost in tandem, to Pike’s email. They then printed them out, signed them and Jim managed to get Sulu to head to Pike’s office to hand them in. There might have been a promise of alcohol or other incentives involved. Even though they were up with all of the latest technology, like having a broadband connection in the office while the rest of the country was still making do with 56kb, paper still ruled their lives.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly but routinely, the sun setting outside as Jim bid farewell to Sulu, who was chatting with Pavel at his desk. He waved at Janice, who was still at her place in reception, as he joined other workmates waiting for the elevator. Once out of the building, it was his turn to join the myriad of government employees leaving the office towers to head to San Fran’s public transport system to carry them home. Jim stayed standing up against a pole on the bus instead of sitting down in one of the few empty spaces available. He preferred to observe on the short trip to his apartment.

He got off at his stop and walked the remaining couple of blocks to his apartment. He stopped along the way at the local deli to pick up some groceries for the evening and, loaded down with two plastic bags, he walked around the corner and then up the steps to his apartment building.

Once outside his own door, he juggled the bags so he could get his keys out of his pocket. Before he could put it in the lock he had to move closer, as his next door neighbor was walking down the corridor. She was pulling a rolling trolley behind her that had a little squeak on one of its wheels with every rotation it made.

“Evening, Mrs. M,” Jim said to the woman.

A grunt was his only acknowledgment as she walked past. Like all the other times, not a thank you was offered to him for moving out of her way.

Jim put his key in the lock and turning it, he opened the door.

“Hey, Bob, I’m home,” he greeted as he shut the door behind himself and set the chain in place.

He walked the short passageway and into his compact kitchen area. Placing his purchases on the island bench, he started putting everything away. Left on the bench was a small can of high market cat food that promised something ridiculous. Jim was not inclined to believe it but he still bought the food anyway. He also left out a single serve of lasagna that was the local deli’s specialty. He thought about getting the oven ready for the lasagna, but decided against eating just yet. Instead he put the lasagna in the fridge and headed to his bedroom to change into his jogging gear.

He neatly hung up his suit and put the other items in the laundry basket. Bob hadn’t appeared in the apartment by the time he had finished changing, so he left the can of food on the bench, so that if Bob appeared while he was gone he might be inclined to stick around. Just before heading out he checked his messages on his phone in the hallway. The tinny feminine voice announced that he had no new messages.

“Love you too, Mom, “ he said quietly to the machine, not surprised that he hadn’t heard from her again.

He undid the chain, unlocked his door and headed out for his nightly jog. The cool of the evening had set in, so he started at a brisk pace to blow out any cobwebs and once he felt a bit warmer he settled into his normal rhythm. While running over his chosen path through the neighborhood, he allowed his mind to drift back to the days events.

Someone had once told Jim that, ‘the day I see a jogger smiling is the day I take up jogging.’ Anyone crossing paths with him as he jogged along, scowl etched into his forehead, would have agreed fully with that statement.

Jim turned back into his street and slowed his pace until he was walking the final steps to his apartment block. He used the steps to stretch out and once he started to feel the cool of the evening air on his sweat soaked skin, he headed into the building. He pulled his key out of the hiding spot in his shoe in order to unlock the door to his apartment again. Once inside, he locked it behind himself and tossed the key onto the glass bowl on the side table. It chinked loudly as the metal hit the glass and there was a replying meow from the kitchen area. Bob was ‘home’.

Jim smiled as he exited the short hallway into his open plan area to discover the cat sitting next to the can of cat food.

Bob stood as he entered the room, tail swishing in the air and giving a plaintive meow before turning in a circle and batting at the can.

Jim laughed at his antics, used to them by now. “Where were you earlier, buddy?”

Bob, as always, didn’t answer him but let him know in no uncertain terms that it was food time. Jim moved over to his cupboards and opened up the door of one and pulled out the small saucer that was now designated as ‘Bob’s’. He dished up the cat’s dinner, batting away each paw that tried to get at the food before it could be placed on the floor. In the battle of Bob versus Jim, Jim managed to out score him once again and get the food onto the saucer and then onto the floor before Bob could get to it. Jim stood back for a minute to watch the cat wolfing down the food.

“I don’t know where you get that appetite from. I bet I’m not the only one that feeds you,” Jim said as he watched him.

Next, Jim turned back to his oven, turning it on to the right temperature and remembering to set the timer this time. Overcooked lasagna is not appetizing was a lesson he had well learned. He took the lasagna out of the fridge and put it into the oven to cook before heading to his room, stripping off his sweaty running clothes as he moved across the space in his apartment.

Once he was naked and his clothes put away in the laundry hamper, he headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He made sure that the temperature was not too warm so as to work away at the lactic acid build up in his muscles.

He stood under the spray for a moment, just closing his eyes as he tilted his head up and allowing the water to flow over his face, into his hair and down his body. He tried to allow his mind to go blank but there were too many questions from the day still sneaking back into the forefront of his mind. The run hadn’t helped and now it seemed the shower wasn’t going to work either, so Jim gave in and started to fully go back over the day’s events.

Jim reached over for the soap and started to lather up his body as he considered the conundrum of Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy. It was a habit of his to nickname certain people; mostly to annoy them. Leonard was such a stodgy name and McCoy had never really looked like a Leonard to him from the start. When one of Pavel’s reports came to him and Sulu with a Russian codename in it, Jim was intrigued at the translation of “it saw the bones”. Pavel was confused about who or what they were referring to. It was only once after they had commenced some monitoring of associates did Jim realize that the Russians were all being treated by the same doctor at a small private practice. увидел косточки was the Russian variation on the old term ‘sawbones’ and Jim literally did a little dance of glee when he realized it, much to Sulu’s disgust at his dancing abilities.

Once their findings were put to Pike, after observing the doctor for a while as a person of interest, Jim had been more than a little annoyed to be told that the doctor wasn’t of great interest to the investigation and to drop it. Jim knew he had issues with following orders. Almost every yearly evaluation took pains to mention that. Who was he kidding; they all had mentioned it, including his entry documentation. He stuck his tongue out at all the metaphorical past superiors who felt the need to put in writing that he had ‘issues with authority’.

He jumped in surprise and dropped the soap when there was a loud meow and batting at the glass door to the shower.

“Shit, Bob!” He exclaimed as he bent over to pick up the soap and get back to the serious business of soaping up his body and working out all the kinks in his muscles. “You’ve been fed, what do you want now?

“I mean, I’ve had a shit day. Started off really well with a raid on those Russians I was telling you about. The Romanians haven’t turned up yet, though. Managed to nab the good doctor in the raid too. He does wear suits that his salary should not be able to afford. Real fine they are. Anyway,” Jim said as he continued to talk to the cat that was apparently patiently sitting on the bathroom mat watching the outline of him through the shower door.

“Pike ruined all my fun. Decided not to tell me that we had an inside man on the job, I mean what the fuck is up with that? Way to go, boss! Then the bastard wouldn’t tell me anything when I had him in the cuffs. He’s good. I know why he had the smirk on his face now. Bones knew exactly what was going on and thought it was great fun.”

Jim put the soap back on the holder as he returned to rubbing his hands over his body as he continued to talk to the cat. His hands started to migrate to one area in particular but he seemed to be unaware of them actually doing so.

“Bastard was laughing at me. Pike’s told me to back off, but I don’t trust the guy. Even Pavel couldn’t get to the files on the system and if that little hacker can’t, well, I might have to see if I can get Scotty to have a look instead. For an Interpol agent he sure is willing to bend the rules. Why did Pike let us do the raid then, if he knew he had McCoy on the inside and we were likely to arrest him too? I mean, it worked out awesomely in the end, arresting him. No wonder he knew what to do when I had the handcuffs out.”

Jim looked down towards where he knew the cat was sitting, “You should have seen him Bob, just blinked once when Sulu and I were coming at him, guns drawn. Then he puts his hands up in the air and calmly turns around. I’ve never had a perp be so cool about it. Even those that have long rap sheets always protest. Not Bones. You should have heard him, Bob. ‘Agent’, he said to me cool as a cucumber in that genteel Southern accent of his as I snapped on the cuffs. Like he was greeting me over some iced tea or whatever shit they do back home. He stood perfectly still while I had patted him down for weapons - Aw fuck!” Jim cried as he realised that he was hard. Hard and jacking himself off with Bob as a witness.

“Bob, scoot!” Jim said as he made a shooing motion with his hands towards the bathroom door. This was probably hindered by the fact that the glass of his shower was frosted and Bob couldn’t see clearly but also mostly hindered by him trying to order a cat around. Jim opened up the shower door to find the cat sitting on the bathmat comfortably.

“Out,” Jim ordered again and received a basilisk stare for his troubles. Bob seemed to be untroubled by the water splashing out from the shower and onto the floor around him.

“You’re gonna make me, aren’t you?” Jim said as he contemplated the cat and then his erection.

He bent over quickly and picked up Bob, who started to protest at being manhandled by a wet man. Jim stepped out of the shower and before Bob could fully react and bring his claws into play, he had taken two steps across the bathroom and tossed Bob out the door so that he would land on his bed. Jim quickly shut the bathroom door and stepped back as fast as he could into the shower and closed the door on the mess the little trip had made.

Jim silently cursed himself. He appeared to be one of those guys that he had routinely had a dig about. Those that got excited by their line of work. He loved his job, when it wasn’t the boring ass sitting around moments that seemed to get longer and longer each time. But getting hard over arresting a guy, who then wasn’t the guy you thought he was, yeah, his life had taken a weird turn today.

Jim Kirk wasn’t a guy to waste a perfectly good hard on though.

He took himself back in hand and dredged up the memory of beers at Sulu’s place the other night, the tv on and the pair of them attempting to indoctrinate Pavel into the wonder that was red swimsuits and tans. Bouncing, bountiful breasts filled his mind as he slicked his hand up and down his cock. The day had been too eventful, and interspersed with his fantasy of Pamela Anderson running towards him on a beach was the image of McCoy lounging back in the chair in the interrogation room as he waited for him, hands still bound behind him in the handcuffs, but that look of complete and utter calm that he had. Jim tried to bring back the image of breasts held just barely in by wet, red lycra, but Bones kept invading, smirk on his face as he watched Jim walk towards him. His hand moved faster and faster as he could feel his orgasm build, his breathing getting more ragged as he willed himself over the edge.

“Fuck! Bones,” Jim exhaled roughly as he came. His eyes closing as he felt himself ejaculate, his dick throbbing in his hand, his hips thrusting in time with the pulses. He opened his eyes as he felt his breathing start to return to normal. It was in time to see the last of his come wash away down the drain. He splashed water onto the shower screen, just in case there was any left.

“Well that was weird,” Jim said as he let go of his dick.

His puzzling thoughts were interrupted by the ding of the timer. Jim swore again as he turned off the water and grabbed his towel. He ignored the already wet floor and dried himself off roughly before wrapping the towel around his waist and heading to the kitchen to check his dinner.

There was no sign of Bob anywhere in the apartment. Jim figured that he was being punished for excluding him from the bathroom. He resigned himself to spending the rest of the evening in his own company. He headed back to his room to finish drying himself off and dressing before eating his dinner.


	2. Part 2

Leonard walked into the small café at precisely 3 p.m. as he had been instructed to earlier in the day. Two of the Sokolov brothers were sitting by the back door with it’s beaded curtain hanging in place. Elsewhere around the café, there were card games and one or two chess games happening with little Russian men and louder Russian conversation occurring. Leonard headed in the direction of the back door and nodded at the brothers as he parted the curtain and walked into the back room.

He heard the beads falling back into place slowly, clicking against each other as they swayed. He quickly glanced around the room. There was no Vasily Novikov in sight, but there was another door off to the right and standing next to it, making no attempt to look anything but menacing, was Ilia Lebedev. Where ever Vasily was, Lebedev was normally right at his back.

Lebedev reached over, turned the door handle and pushed the door open as Leonard watched.

Leonard took the unspoken hint and walked across the room, noting the silence in this room compared to the café. The two other Sokolov brothers were seated off to one side with Semyon Kuznetsov, a bottle and three glasses on the table in front of them. There was no sign of Marat Golubev, but with most of the main contenders in this one room, Leonard knew he had probable cause to be worried.

Leonard steeled himself as he walked through the door. He had been in this room only twice before; for his first ‘interview’ and then for his acceptance into the fold.

“Leonard,” Vasily greeted him as he entered. “Please, sit.” Vasily indicated the chair directly in front of his ornate desk, the Louis XIV style seeming very out of place in the small room.

As Leonard sat down he heard the door click shut behind him. He glanced back to see that Lebedev had followed him into the room and now stood guard in front of the door.

“Mr. Novikov,” Leonard said as he turned back to face one of the most powerful men in San Francisco.

“Please, Leonard, I told you before, call me Vasily,” Vasily said as he placed a small glass in front of Leonard. He then proceeded to pour a generous amount of vodka into the glass.

“Drink,” Vasily urged once he had put the bottle back down on the table. “I know you prefer that bourbon, but this is mother’s milk and you are one of us.”

Leonard lifted his glass up and saluted Vasily with it before bringing it to his mouth and tipping backwards, downing the whole shot. He had drunk enough vodka in his time working for Vasily that he no longer coughed as the alcohol burned its way down his throat. He couldn’t stop his eyes from watering though.

“See, Ilia,” Vasily said to his shadow, “the good doctor is almost true Russian now. Dear Ilia worries about you,” Vasily confided.

“He does? I’m flattered,” Leonard replied as he placed the glass back on the table.

“He worries you will not have my best interests at heart, but I tell him that we can trust you.”

“It’s his job to protect you,” Leonard told Vasily.

“True. True,” Vasily agreed as he sat back into the well worn leather of his chair.

Leonard waited patiently while Vasily narrowed his eyes and contemplated him. Finally Vasily spoke again.

“Now, yesterday was a busy day for you? No?” Vasily didn’t wait for him to answer and Leonard had had enough interactions with Vasily to know to wait longer before answering him anyway. “I recall we had a discussion about how you could be of assistance to me some more. I have thought on the matter and decided that you need to encourage your shadow more.”

“Encourage?” Leonard queried.

“I should have thought that was clear,” Vasily said. “Your wife made it very clear that you did not find her fully satisfying during your marriage.”

Leonard bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself for answering back in such a way that could end up with him dead or worse. Instead he just quietly said, “And?”

“Agent Kirk is very intrigued by you. He even took you off for an interview on your own. That is very against the rules. Now why would he single you out? Just a doctor caught up in something that is not of his own making. So, with his special interest, I would consider it a very great favor if you were to encourage that interest.”

“Right,” Leonard said in a lukewarm tone.

“You will encourage him and you will agree to his offer for ‘protection’. In return he will want information. We will provide that to you. Secrets told over a pillow are always believed,” Vasily had steepled his hands in front of his chin as he told Leonard all that was going to happen. “Now go back to your house and call Agent Kirk. Agree to his offer. I know you have his card still. Thank you, Leonard, your assistance will be rewarded.”

Leonard was dismissed and he knew it. He stood and nodded at Vasily before turning and heading towards the door that Lebedev was now holding open.

He walked out of the café and headed towards his car, knowing that eyes were still likely on him. He got in and drove towards his small practice, and parked a little distance away and a street behind. He took a couple of different paths and once he ascertained that he hadn’t been followed, he ducked into a phone booth outside McDonalds and dialed Pike’s direct line.

He knew he was a little short with the Captain than was normally polite or respectful to a superior, but he had some frustration at the situation he had to work out. Pike seemed to understand and let it go. He assured Leonard that he would explain the situation to Jim, who was at his desk at the moment. Leonard took the hint and hung up on Pike. He headed to his practice to touch base with Christine before heading home to place that call to Jim that he knew was going to be monitored.

***

He sat and looked at his phone as he twiddled the card that Jim had given him, close on three months ago, between his fingers. Subtle was not a word to associate with Jim Kirk. Leonard had heard things about the notorious son of the heroic George Kirk when he was at training. His medical training and the lessons his father had drilled into him told him to never judge a book by its cover or a patient by the symptoms they told you. He was sure that he wasn’t going to judge Kirk by what others said or George’s memory. The kid most definitely didn’t live up to those expectations anyway.

Leonard sighed as he picked up the phone after running through in his head what he was going to say to Kirk.

He dialled the number and waited for the call to be picked up, one leg twitching slightly as he waited.

“Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Francisco Office. Janice Rand speaking, how can I help you?”

“Agent Jim Kirk, please,” Leonard said as he brought his hand down to rest on his thigh and still his leg movement.

“May I say who is calling?” the melodious voice of the receptionist asked. Leonard remembered her from the day before. She appeared quite young, but competent and in a way reminded him of Christine.

“McCoy, Dr. Leonard McCoy,” he told her. He looked around his room while he waited for the hold music to end. It was almost as sparsely furnished as when he had moved in. He literally had left his life back in Georgia when Pike finally dragged him out of his self-imposed exile.

“Jim Kirk,” Jim’s voice happily proclaimed over the line.

“Agent Kirk, it’s Dr. Leonard McCoy,” Leonard introduced himself.

“McCoy. McCoy, hmm kinda rings a bell,” Jim said. Leonard swore he knew exactly the smug little expression that was on Kirk’s face.

“How many doctors did you arrest yesterday on the raid in the Bayshore warehouse? You Feds might want to invest in some memory tests. Are you sponsoring a city-wide doctor ‘catch and release’ policy now?” Leonard couldn’t resist firing back at him. The little shit knew exactly who he was.

“Oh, _that_ , Dr. McCoy,” Jim said. “And what can the Federal Bureau of Investigations do for the good doctor?”

“I was thinking about what you said yesterday,” Leonard started.

“I remember saying a lot of things yesterday,” Jim responded.

“About looking out for my back,” Leonard told him, desperately trying not to roll his eyes at Kirk’s responses and failing.

“Ahh, yes that. Looking out for your back. I’m sure we could discuss it,” Jim’s tone was still amused.

“Can I meet you somewhere? With that Captain of yours too? Pike wasn’t it?” Leonard tried to keep the phone call all business.

“I’ll see what I can do, hang on,” Jim said and he heard what was Jim obviously putting down the phone.

Leonard was left staring around his living room again. The TV in the corner on the little stand, the bookcase to it’s left; full of medical texts and the occasional dog-eared novel. He could hear voices and office noises through the ear piece of the phone but nothing distinct.

“You there?” Jim said, surprising Leonard with how quickly he returned and how quietly he picked up the phone.

“Yeah,” Leonard replied.

“Do you know Amelia’s café just down from our office?”

“Sure, I saw it yesterday, but that’s too close for my liking. How about Java on Mission Street instead?” Leonard offered. “Not anywhere I normally go.”

“I know it, just around the corner from Starbucks. Sounds good to me. See you tomorrow at ten then?” Jim said.

“Ten,” Leonard agreed and he hung up the phone.

He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face as he sunk further into the cool leather of his armchair.

He sat that way for a while, waiting for the call he knew was still to come. Vasily didn’t keep him waiting too long.

“Do you have news for me, Leonard?” he said even before Leonard could say his name or an opening greeting.

“I am meeting them tomorrow at ten. Going to be at the Java café on Mission down in SoMa,” Leonard replied tiredly.

“Are you tired, Leonard? I hope that you were suitably interesting to Agent Kirk as we discussed,” Vasily’s smooth voice gently rebuked Leonard.

“I was as interesting to him as I normally have been,” Leonard explained himself.

“Leonard, Leonard, Leonard. What is that expression, hmm? Catch more flies with honey than with vinegar? You should be nicer to Agent Kirk,” Vasily said.

“Yeah well, you tried to distract him with honey a few weeks ago and that didn’t work so well,” Leonard replied. “He seems to like how I talk to him. Kept him interested so far and if I had changed my manner he would well know that something was up.”

“See, this is why I like you Leonard. You think clever. Gaila is a lovely honeypot and she is most upset that she wasn’t able to fully capture the agent’s interest. Now rest up, we want you looking your best for the agents tomorrow,” Vasily said before he hung up on Leonard.

“Great,” Leonard breathed out tiredly, before pushing himself out of the chair and heading into his kitchen to make himself some dinner.

***

Christopher Pike pulled his sunglasses off his face as he walked into the café. The little bell above the door tinkling as he and his two agents entered.

McCoy was seated, waiting for them at a table in the middle of the room, although he had placed himself in the chair with his back to the wall. This was obviously so he could watch the front door but also the door to the kitchen area. Chris smiled to himself slightly as McCoy was showing his training without realizing it. The same situation had been seen just two days before, when McCoy moved to the chair facing the door once Kirk had left him alone. Although that could also have been him just wanting to annoy Kirk as well. The Bureau had had their eye on McCoy for a very long time, and it had taken an unfortunate loss in order for him to finally listen to their offer seriously. Chris knew that McCoy still held a bit of a grudge over that time, but he was an Agent now.

“Popov is over the other side of the road,” Sulu said, sotto voce, as they paused just inside the door way.

Chris nodded in acknowledgement and smiled towards McCoy. “Dr. McCoy,” he greeted as he started to walk over towards the table.

McCoy had stood as they approached. He held out his hand for Chris to shake.

After shaking his hand, Chris turned to indicate the two men with him. “You know Jim Kirk and Hikaru Sulu?”

“I do,” McCoy said as he nodded at each of the two men as he started to lower back down into his seat.

“Are we waiting on anyone else?” Jim asked as he took his own seat to the right of McCoy.

“Nope, only our friend across the road,” McCoy told him.

“Have you ordered yet, Doctor?” Chris asked him.

McCoy turned his head back towards Chris. “I was waiting for you.”

“Good, good,” Chris said. “Jim, go order us some coffee.”

Chris ignored the look from Jim and turned back to McCoy. “How do you have your coffee?”

“Black is fine,” McCoy said.

“Off you go, Jim,” Chris ordered.

Jim got up from his chair and walked over to the counter to order their coffee. Chris casually glanced around the café. There was only one other table occupied and it was right by the front window. Far enough away that they could speak freely but quietly without being overheard.

“We can speak freely gentlemen,” Chris said as he casually leaned forward on the table.

Sulu had been sitting back and just watching the others speak. This is why Chris had teamed Jim with him.

He was a local, always a bonus with an out of town agent, but more importantly he was one of those men that would observe first before action in most instances. In opposition to Jim, who was action first, second and sometimes fourth times, before he seemed to do any thinking. Though at times, Jim could be a slightly bad influence. The fact that they had been told to not follow McCoy anymore and yet they had continued to do so spoke eloquently of Jim’s ‘dog with a bone’ attitude that had driven his bosses back in Omaha crazy. But that had given him one of the highest capture rates in the Midwest.

“Sulu, Leonard McCoy is one of our agents,” Chris said, watching McCoy’s reaction out of the corner of his eye. The man was holding himself very calm and still.

“Wait, you mean he’s a Fed too?” Sulu asked, the surprise evident in his voice.

“He’s from the Atlanta branch, but we brought him in specifically to be undercover with the Russians for this investigation,” Chris explained.

Jim had returned to the table by this stage to hear the end of Chris speaking. “So Sulu knows now too?”

“When did you know?” Sulu asked Jim before Chris could respond.

“Only the other day. Our captain likes to keep secrets,” Jim said as he sat back in his chair, sprawling with his normal ability to try and claim as much space as possible.

“Your captain had his reasons,” Chris interjected. “This is still to not go any further than those of us around this table. It is to be assumed amongst the rest that McCoy is an informant.”

Sulu had a puzzled look on his face while Chris had been speaking.

“Wait, isn’t it risky to have a fake doctor out there?” Sulu asked. “As far as we know you have been treating the locals as well as the Russians or is that a set up too?”

“I’m not a fake, I _am_ a doctor,” McCoy said.

“He is a doctor,” Chris confirmed. “It was one of the reasons he is right for this job. Now the Russians want him to give us false information. Which makes it easier for us to get updates, but we have to make sure that the Russians and others don’t suspect. What exactly did Novikov order you to do?”

McCoy did not look pleased at the question. Chris knew that there was something that had set him off yesterday but he didn’t fully express it in the phone call with him. He thought that maybe the presence of the others might allow him to get a better idea of what had upset McCoy. He was an emotional man who needed to vent occasionally.

“I was to ‘encourage’ Kirk’s interest as he hasn’t been too subtle about it,” McCoy grumbled.

Chris sat back in his chair and crossed his arms as he considered this information. “Encourage?” he queried.

“Encourage,” McCoy repeated, his tone indicating his displeasure at the suggestion.

“Wait. What?” Kirk asked.

“Sometime you are so slow on the uptake, Jim,” Sulu laughed at him.

“Well, you were the one to let the Russians in on that little bit of information,” McCoy glared at Chris.

“It’s public record, they were able to find that themselves. But, yes, we didn’t hide that information,” Chris calmly replied.

“What record?” Jim asked.

He had to wait for an answer though as the café staff started to bring over their coffee and Jim had to direct whose coffee went where.

They waited until the coffee had been placed in front of them and the staff member was back behind the counter and out of earshot.

“Well? Are you going to let us in on the information?” Jim asked.

McCoy looked at Chris but kept silent on the matter.

“It appears Jim, that the Russians have seen your interest in the good doctor and interpreted it in a certain way,” Chris explained.

Sulu snorted into his coffee before he took a sip. “That’s one way of explaining it,” he murmured.

“What?” Jim asked again.

“Is he always this clueless?” McCoy asked of Chris and Sulu.

“Not always, but this _is_ amusing,” Sulu replied.

“Jim,” Sulu said as he placed his hand on Jim’s arm and started rubbing up and down on it slowly. “Novikov thinks that you might be distracted by the presence of Dr. McCoy.”

Jim looked down at Sulu’s hand before the light seemed to go on in his head, “Oh!” he exclaimed before looking over at McCoy and then back at the others. “But. Oh. Damn.”

“He’s eloquent to go with quick on the uptake,” McCoy told Chris.

“I’m not the one who is apparently having to be Mata Hari,” Jim replied.

“I wouldn’t have to be if you weren’t so damn blatant,” McCoy drawled back at him.

“I was just doing my job. Not my fault the Russians can’t put two and two together properly,” Kirk said.

McCoy raised one eyebrow at him. “Oh I think going to gay bars was a little obvious,” McCoy said as he raised his own cup and took a sip, his eyes challenging Kirk over the cup.

Sulu made to interject, but Chris just shook his head to tell him to keep his silence, wanting his two agents to figure things out for themselves.

Kirk opened his mouth and did a fair impression of a fish before snapping it shut and mumbling, “Fine, I can see where they got that idea, but it’s not me that’s gay, it’s Sulu. I was just going out with my buddy. A beer’s a beer no matter where it’s served.”

McCoy looked towards Sulu enquiringly.

“Yeah, I’m gay and most of the guys in the office know. Jim’s not as far as I know, but I can see why they might think it if they saw him out with me at those places. Not many straight guys go to those bars.”

“Lots of straight chicks go there though,” Kirk added.

“Kirk!” Chris admonished. Kirk just smiled at him unrepentantly.

“Anyway,” Jim continued, “if they think I’m gay cause of that, then what do they have on you that makes them think you would be up for pretending?”

“They don’t think I would be pretending,” McCoy said, staring at Kirk seriously.

“But you were married. I at least was able to find _that_ out,” Kirk replied.

“He’s been to gay bars and hasn’t heard of anyone being bi-sexual? Where have you been taking him?” McCoy asked Sulu, who just laughed in response.

“You’re gay?” Jim asked McCoy.

“No, the term is bi-sexual. Yes, I was married and I have been interested in both women and men previously. The Russians found out about that and used it as one of their little pushes to get me to work for them. They like having things on the people they have working for them so that they can control them. Now enough about my private life. I’m not happy with the turn of events, but I figure I can keep acting the same way as before if Kirk can continue his reactions the same. Seems to have fooled them into thinking one thing,” McCoy said quietly.

“Kirk?” Chris asked him.

“Yeah, I suppose, but really... yeah, it can be done,” Jim agreed, while obviously still thinking the new information through. “It really is weird though. I follow you around and generally harass you, even arrest you. You sass back at me and they think we want to get it on? They’ve got a weird idea of relationships.”

“Don’t underestimate Vasily,” McCoy warned. “He’s managed to stay out of jail for a long time while not really hiding his business. He’s well-respected, but more importantly, well-feared by the others.”

“He appears to like you though, McCoy,” Pike commented.

“Yeah, must be my winning ways. I’m useful to him at the moment. The instant I ain’t anymore, then my days are very numbered,” McCoy replied. “How much pressure are you still getting from Interpol about information?”

“Considering that we have two of their agents living out of our pockets and sticking their noses into everything? Yeah, not a lot of interest at all,” Kirk said sarcastically.

“It’s their job, Kirk. The sooner the Romanians surface then the less on edge everyone will be. Their information was very solid with the links back to the Russians here. We know that Novikov has ties back to former KGB agents in Russia. Spock has been invaluable with Interpol’s resources and we should trust them. We are here to help them bring war criminals to trial. Any bonuses we can gain from information about the Russians, and more specifically bring Novikov down, the better it all will be for both agencies,” Chris explained.

“Yeah, I know, I just wish that man would learn to crack a smile or an expression or something. He’s too serious,” Kirk complained. “Does he know about the good doctor?”

“No, but he does know that we have information coming in. He will be informed, like the others, that McCoy has turned informant on us. Now any other questions or I think we should wrap this up and let your watchdog out there stop drawing attention to himself,” Chris said towards McCoy.

“None, apart from I will still call into the office from pay phones. I’m pretty sure they have bugged my apartment and listen in to any calls I make from there. I reckon they have the office bugged too. They did arrange for me to rent both places,” McCoy said.

“They really are suspicious bastards aren’t they?” Kirk observed.

“If they weren’t they wouldn’t still be on the streets,” McCoy replied.

“True,” Kirk agreed. “Yeah, nothing more from me either.”

“I’m good,” Sulu commented.

“Good,” Chris said as he stood up. “Sulu, I’m trusting you to keep an eye on these two for me. Make sure they don’t deviate from the patterns of behavior that have been established. We want information on when those bastards land here so we can get them into Interpol’s hands.”

“Yes, sir,” Sulu agreed, over the protestations of McCoy and Kirk who were both silenced by a glare from Chris.

The men all walked out the front door and paused to say their farewells. McCoy shook Sulu’s and then Chris’ hand before Kirk turned towards him.

“Am I meant to give you a kiss goodbye now?” Kirk smirked at McCoy.

“Do that and remember I am a doctor. I will hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine,” McCoy replied as he held out his hand for Kirk to shake, a smile on his face giving anyone observing the impression that it was a cordial parting greeting.

Kirk laughed as he gripped McCoy’s hand and shook it goodbye. He held onto it a moment longer than the norm Chris observed as he turned away to walk back toward their car, Sulu joining him.

“Later, ‘Bones’,” Jim said, that smirk still on his face before letting go and jogged off to join Chris and Sulu.

“Unbelievable,” Chris heard McCoy mutter to their retreating backs.

***

Jim was leaning on the reception desk as he chatted with Janice. When the phone rang, Jim remained leaning on the desk while she answered it, all the better to watch the young woman with her scary efficiency and professionalism.

He had been flirting with her for months, but she always had a ready answer and little twinkle of a smile for him. It was now a challenge to see what reaction he could get.

“Jim,” Janice looked up at him with a little smile on her face, and still on the phone, “Don’t you have a team meeting you are supposed to be at?” Janice looked pointedly at the clock on the wall.

“Aw, shit. Laters, Janice and thanks for the reminder,” Jim said as he waved and walked quickly down the hallway.

“Thank Hikaru,” Janice called after him. He turned and looked at her enquiringly. She pointed at her headset and Jim got the message.

“Thanks anyway,” Jim said again as he turned back and headed for the conference room where their team meetings were always held.

He entered to find most of the others already seated around the table. He walked around to sit next to Sulu and wait for Pike and Spock to finish conferring at the head of the table.

Scotty and Pavel were comparing notes over something that was probably highly technical, so Jim just looked at Sulu who had the same expression on his face, one of necessary boredom. Team meetings, the highlight of their weeks.

“Right,” Pike said as Spock moved away from him to sit primly in his chair.

Jim nudged Sulu under the table, who just glared at him like they were back in school and teacher was going to tell them off if they didn’t behave.

“Okay everyone, I think this will be a short one today, but there has been a new development,” Pike announced. “The raid picked up a few guys that the State Department were interested in, but nothing really concrete. One of the associates picked up has agreed to become an informant for us.”

At this Spock looked towards Pike with what Jim was coming to ascertain was his ‘interested’ face. A slight creasing between his brows was the only indication of his interest, but it was one that Jim had noticed and filed away in his mind.

“Excuse me Captain, but is this informant on top of the one you already have within the organization?” Spock asked as he politely raised a finger.

“Yes, this is a new informant. Jim was responsible for bringing this one to our attention. He and Sulu have been working on the man for a number of weeks,” Pike replied.

“Are we to be briefed as to who the informant may be?” Spock queried.

“It is the doctor who administers to the mob. We shall see what information he is able to glean. Our understanding is that he has been involved in health checks for all the new arrivals that are ‘fresh off the boat’ so to speak. So, he may be able to lead us towards the Romanians when and if they show,” Pike explained.

“That is an eminently logical conclusion. I take it precautions are being put in place to ensure that the Novikov organization is unaware that he is now an informant?”

“Kirk and Sulu will continue to be his handlers at this time, as they are who he is familiar with. They have been briefed as to the importance of any and all information. The Novikovs are aware that he has had ‘chats’ with our agents of a, shall we say ‘cantankerous’ nature, so those will continue while he feeds us information under their noses. The best informants, in my experience with these type of people, are the ones that they have decided not to suspect. Now I understand you had some information for us from Interpol?” Pike asked.

“Thank you Captain, yes I do. We have secured the services of an excellent translator from the United Nations who is exceptionally fluent in the regional Romanian dialect that our suspects have been known to converse in. She is currently located in this city and will be joining us over the next few days. We have worked with her before and she will be brought in to look over the transcripts we have to ascertain if there is anything that has been missed.” Spock made sure that he looked from person to person as he spoke.

Once Spock had finished speaking there was that uncomfortable silence that permeates many a meeting when nobody had anything more to say. Pike clapped his hands together and informed the team that the meeting was over. Jim and Sulu stood almost as one in order to get out. As they both converged on the only doorway out of the room, they were met like merging traffic on the freeways at peak hour by Pavel and Scotty.

Jim slapped Sulu on the shoulder and proclaimed, “Beauty before age and all the rest of that crap!”

While the others blinked at his statement, he strode through the doorway and headed back towards the office area.

“Jim, you’re a little shit, you know that?” Sulu said to him as he strode briskly so that he join him.

“Shh, don’t let Pike hear you speak like that Agent Sulu,” Jim mockingly told him off.

“You are an ass!” Sulu retorted.

“Your ass,” Jim countered as he waggled his heavy set eyebrows at his partner.

Sulu’s response was to whack him across the top of his arm. Scotty and Pavel had joined them by this stage. Jim was laughing at the annoyed expression on Sulu’s face. They had all stopped at a point in the corridor just before the entrance back into the bull pen area.

“He really is always like this, isn’t he?” Scotty asked in his thick Scottish brogue.

“Unfortunately, and man I must have pissed off the captain real good to be assigned with him,” Sulu agreed.

Jim stopped laughing to protest with a cry of “Hey!” and his slightly miffed look then turned to one of curiosity as he tilted his head to the side and looked at Scotty. “So, what’s up with this translator that got Spock all excited?”

“Excited?” Pavel piped into the conversation from where he had been standing quietly watching the play by play.

“His eyebrow raised .24 of an inch and there was that little tick at the edge of his lips, how did you miss it?” Jim asked.

“Don’t mind him, Pavel,” Sulu said. “Yeah, Scotty what is up with that translator? Aren’t our resources enough?”

“Ah, the lovely Miss Uhura is worth a thousand of your translators. No offense, Pavel,” Scotty sighed as he pronounced the translators name. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with that fine woman before and she has this ability to pick up voices in the background that some machines can’t. Underestimate her at your peril!”

“Gentlemen,” Pike said from the doorway where he was standing, watching them converse. “You missed the meeting so much you decided to have another one?”

“You know us, Captain,” Jim said. “Never miss the opportunity for a good meeting.”

Pike just pursed his lips and stared at his agents, who took the silent hint and headed back to work.

***

Christine turned her head when she heard the door opening to her boss’ office. She carefully tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and tried to look busy with the papers in front of her.

The pale gray of the desk melded with the patient information sheets that she had been filling out. She blinked to refocus her eyesight.

“Perfect bill of health, Mr. Popov,” Leonard said as he escorted his patient out.

“Thank you, doctor,” Kirill Popov responded, his accent proving how recent an emigre he was from Russia. “Nurse Chapel,” he addressed Christine.

She turned her chair so that she could face the two men. It would have been rude if she hadn’t acknowledged his greeting and her mother hadn’t raised a rude daughter. So, she nodded at him and only then realized that he had a hand extended towards her.

Warily, she placed her hand in his and inhaled involuntarily as he raised her hand to his mouth so he could place a kiss upon her knuckles. His gray eyes were staring into her own and a little smile playing around the corners of his mouth.

She pulled her hand away quickly as soon as he raised his lips off her hand.

“No one does that anymore,” she said as she sent a glare towards her boss who was chuckling not so silently. “You might want to take some lessons in modern day etiquette.”

Mr. Popov continued to smile at her, not at all put aback by her correction. “If you were the teacher, I would be the most attentive of students,” he declared with a hand over his heart.

“Pish!” Christine responded. If she was a different kind of girl, the response might have been a little stronger.

“Pish?” Mr. Popov asked turning to look towards Leonard who had stepped away from the doorway to clap him on the shoulder.

“Just a strange expression, don’t you worry none about that,” Leonard said as he started to direct the other man towards the front door. Leonard gave him one final pat on the shoulder as he opened the door.

Mr. Popov took the hint and with a final nod towards her, exited the practice.

Christine waited until Leonard had closed the front door and was leaning back against it, smiling at her.

“Don’t you start,” she warned as she pointed her pen at him.

“I didn’t say anything,” Leonard responded as he walked away from the door and back toward her desk.

“You didn’t have to, that expression was one my mother would have been proud of!” Christine declared, before launching into an imitation of her mother. “‘Christine, when are you going to find yourself a nice young man again. I don’t know what was going through your fool head when you dropped poor Roger stone cold.’” She screwed up her nose at the mention of her ex-fiancé.

“A nice young man might do you good and you could be a little bit nicer to my patients,” Leonard said as he leaned upon the counter of the desk.

“You, lecturing me, about being nice to people?” she responded back, giving him her most incredulous look.

“Only one of us is allowed to be grumpy and you should be flattered at the kiss on the hand. Quite a smooth little move that. Gentlemanly,” Leonard steered the conversation back towards Mr. Popov.

“He is not a gentleman, he’s a common thug and I really don’t know why you continue to treat those men,” she complained.

“Christine, we treat everyone who needs treating, regardless of rumors about them.” Leonard’s smile had disappeared.

”I know that, but I see so many of those men come through here and I worry about you,” Christine tried to mollify him.

“Don’t you worry about me, and I wouldn’t let anything hurt you, either,” Leonard said as he straightened up and headed back into his office.

She watched him, realizing that she didn’t want him hurt either and resolved to make sure nothing could. His ex-wife had done a complete number on the man. They made an odd pair. Some had thought, with her hurt by a man and him by a woman, that they shouldn’t be friends but something about their shared pain just seemed to click. She was glad to have seen the job advertised, and couldn’t and wouldn’t consider working for any other doctor.

***

Jim hung up the phone and finished making his notes.

He could feel Sulu’s eyes on him but he kept trying to ignore him.

It became difficult to do so when Sulu scooted his chair over right next to his and literally rested his head on his shoulder.

“Haven’t you ever heard of personal space?” Jim asked him.

“Aren’t you Jim Kirk? Have you seen this office?” Sulu responded as he gestured around the office. The area had little cubicles with walls that only came up to chest height on most people, providing no seclusion at all.

“We got a lead?” Sulu pressed.

“Interesting info, but probably more Hannity’s area. She knows those shakedown boys better than us,” Jim said as he picked up his pad to better contemplate the information he had jotted down. “What do you think?” he asked Sulu.

“Looks good and you are right, that it’s more Hannity’s area. Lover boy has done good,” Sulu winked at him.

Jim pushed his chair away from Sulu and resorted with the mature response of poking his tongue out at his partner.

“I’ll just take this over to her,” Jim said as he walked away, waving the piece of paper he had torn out of his pad.

He wended his way, through the maze of cubicles, over towards Hannity’s desk. Before he reached it, he was able to see that she wasn’t there. He stopped and looked around the floor, trying to spot her and then he did. She was out front talking to Janice and someone else who was around the walled partition and out of his sight.

As he walked around the corner, he was finally able to see the other person that they were talking to. Another attractive woman. Today was definitely his day.

“Janice, Agent Hannity,” he greeted the two women that he knew and then turned towards the other woman. She was a slim, African American woman in a red business suit that he greatly approved of. He pushed his way past Hannity so that he could hold his hand out towards the new person. “Special Agent Jim Kirk, how can I be of assistance to you?”

“Very _special_ agent, he is too,” he heard Beth Hannity scoff from just behind him.

He ignored the comment and smiled winningly at the visitor, waiting for her to introduce herself.

“Thank you, but I am fine,” she replied.

Her voice had a trace of an accent that he couldn’t quite pick up exactly where she was from, but he would bet next month’s pay that she wasn’t a native of the US.

He took up a casual leaning stance against the desk as he perused her.

“ _You are fine_ ,” he couldn’t help himself responding quietly.

There was another snort from Hannity, so he turned towards her and held out the piece of notepad paper he had in his hand. “Agent Hannity, I do believe this information is pertinent to one of your current cases.”

She just tilted her head at the side towards him so that she could give him a look that blatantly said “I don’t believe a word that is coming out of your mouth.” He knew that was what she was thinking as she had previously given him that same look and actually said those words at him. They did get on fine most of the time, but there was a slight bit of possible annoyance on her side occasionally. It could mostly be traced back to the incident that had him nicknaming her partner ‘Cupcake.’ So, he shook the paper trying to get her attention on it.

Jim noted that Janice had received another call and was speaking quietly in the background.

Beth sighed as she reached for the paper and looked down at what was written on it. Jim noted her attitude change once she realized what information was on there.

She looked up at Jim in surprise. He smiled at her.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yup,” he responded.

“Thanks,” she said as she turned to head back into the office area.

The visitor was still standing patiently and serenely by the desk. Her hair had escaped over her shoulder and it seemed that she didn’t want it there, so with a little flick of her head, she moved her pony tail back to fall elegantly down her back. Jim smiled as he admired the natural grace of her movements.

“Are you sure I can’t help you, Ms...?” Jim asked, waiting to find out her name.

“I am sure you can’t. I am waiting on someone,” she responded, a little smile playing on her lips.

First Sulu was paying too close attention when he was on the phone with Bones and now this woman was blowing him off. He walked the remaining steps towards her.

“Really sure?” he asked in a low voice.

“Thank you, Special Agent Kirk,” he heard Spock say from behind him.

Jim looked over his shoulder in surprise and then the memory of the team meeting yesterday had him turning back toward the woman.

“Miss Uhura?” he asked.

“Yes, that is my name,” she replied with a little nod of acknowledgment.

“Well, damn. Pleasure to meet you and I look _very_ forward to working with you,” he smiled at her.

Her face had a little confused look on it as she peered over Jim’s shoulder.

“Special Agent Kirk is one of the agents assigned to the task force that I have informed you about,” Spock said to her. “If you would like to come this way.” Spock was now standing next to Jim and indicating a path down the corridor and toward where the meeting rooms were.

Jim watched the pair of them walk down the corridor and away from him.

He turned back to find Janice leaning back in her chair, arms crossed and a smug little smile on her face.

“What?” he asked.

“You really do like impossible challenges, don’t you?” she said.

He leaned over the desk to tug on a curl that she had left to fall loosely down the side of her face, he matched that with a poke out of his tongue. He pulled back quickly before she could swat at his hand and headed back to his desk, ignoring her protesting “Jim!”


	3. Part Three

Days passed with little contact from McCoy. They’d only had two more phone calls from him, until the final one which found Jim all dressed up and out on the town with Sulu. Nothing of much interest had been happening. No new leads. Novikov’s information was leading them on a merry chase to nowhere. Sulu and he had worked off some steam on the firing range and then in the gym, but they were still both so antsy and waiting for that lead, the piece of information that would say they weren’t on a wild goose chase and wasting all this energy for nothing.

Pavel and Scotty hadn’t been around to provide much of a distraction for them either, as they had been holed up in one of the meeting rooms working through the past recordings and transcripts with Miss Uhura. Jim had been trying to wrangle his way into the room to ‘help out’ but nope, the door got shut firmly in his face figuratively and literally.

While it had been slow from his end, McCoy seemed to have been kept on tenterhooks by the Russians. Pressure had been put on him about always sticking to the phone calls. It seemed that they wanted him to ramp up his ‘encouragement’. So here Jim was, in a good pair of jeans and a nice shirt, leaning casually against the bar at The Café.

He had already had to rebuff a couple of offers and Sulu, like always in that situation, was chuckling into his beer.

Friday night at The Café was packed; music was thumping through the club and even at this early hour for it, the dance floor was a writhing mass of bodies moving to their own rhythms as well as the beat flowing out from the speakers. There was the requisite muscle boys in their tanks tops and oiled up muscles on show. The bears with their leather jackets and old school style. The ‘handbags’, or the straight girls, from which Jim would normally have singled out the best option amongst them, but not tonight. Tonight he was waiting for a man.

He took another sip out of the bottle when he spied a familiar face in the crowd on the raised balcony area. McCoy’s watchdog, Popov was there. Which meant that the Russians planned to keep a very close eye on their informant. That changed the rules completely for the night.

Jim looked around all the faces, trying to find McCoy’s. He was searching around the dance floor again when he felt a press of a body up against his own.

“Looking for me?” he heard McCoy speak closely into his ear.

Jim turned around and looked McCoy up and down as best he could considering how close they were due to the crowd. Black shirt, open at the neck and almost halfway down his chest. Dark jeans and tanned skin, little hint of dark hairs on his chest.

“You’ll do,” Jim replied.

McCoy snorted in response.

“Heya Hikaru,” he said to Sulu, who was presumably still standing behind Jim.

“McCoy,” Sulu greeted him.

“Leonard, if we are going to be doing this on a regular basis,” McCoy said.

“He can call you Leonard, but I’m gonna call you Bones,” Jim smiled as he took another sip and tried not to laugh at the expression on McCoy’s face.

They had to talk over the music and kept their their faces close together. They had a prime spot at the bar so, of course, others were trying to inveigle their way into the space they had claimed, which meant that McCoy was constantly being pushed into Jim. A lot of pissy looks were being cast other people’s ways from the doctor.

“So, fancy meeting you here,” Jim said.

“Yeah, well, I got told to pump you for information,” McCoy grumpily complained.

“You can pump me anytime, Bones. But normally I get a drink bought for me first,” Jim smirked as he lifted up his almost empty bottle.

Jim noted that the pissy look got even stronger when it was directed his way. There was a roll of the eyes and McCoy turned his attention to Sulu, asking a silent question of him. Sulu held up his own bottle and shook it to show that it was almost empty too.

“Sure,” he agreed.

McCoy turned to the bar and leaned forward slightly over it to get the bartenders attention. Jim let his eyes drift down his lean form, noting the pull of the shirt across his broad shoulders and how it was hanging loosely out over his jeans. Jeans that were well fitting and also pulling slightly and enhancing McCoy’s natural assets.

Jim realized that he was staring a little too intently and turned back to glance around the room, trying to see if he could spot any other familiar faces besides Popov’s. He leaned over toward Sulu, who met him halfway, after he had done a full scan of the room.

“Too many possible ears around here,” he said as quietly as he dared.

Sulu nodded, “Too many variables of people we might not know. Need to keep that in mind.”

“Yup,” Jim agreed. “Think you can get some of your pals to distract Popov at some stage?”

“I reckon I know some who would be up for it,” Sulu agreed.

A hand reaching between them disrupted their conversation. It held two beers between long fingers. Jim smiled up at McCoy as he took one of the beers.

“Thanks,” he said as he took a sip and noticed that McCoy held a glass of dark liquid in his other hand. “What’s your poison?”

“Bourbon, and not that Jack’s shit,” McCoy answered. “Impressed this place has some decent choices,” he continued as he raised the glass to his lips so he could take a sip.

Jim watched as he flicked his tongue out to moisten his lips before the glass could touch them. The good doctor hadn’t shaved before coming out, just letting his natural growth occur during the day. It was a good look on him, Jim thought.

His eye-line had traveled down towards Bones’ throat as he swallowed, and he realized there was a silver chain around his neck with a pendant of some sort hanging on it, visible just in the v of his shirt.

“Back to the seventies, Bones?” he asked as he nodded toward the necklace.

“Do you really want me to comment on your clothing choices?” he responded.

“What? I look good!” Jim said as he spread his arms as wide as he could within the confined spaces of the bodies around them.

“I’m just gonna say, no wonder they thought certain things about you,” McCoy said with a sly smirk on his face.

“Gotta agree with him there, Jim,” Sulu chuckled.

“It’d be a sin not to show off this fine model of male flesh!” Jim declared.

“He really is deluded,” McCoy commented to Sulu wryly.

“No comment. I have to work with him on a daily basis,” Sulu said before taking another long swig of beer.

“Better you than me,” McCoy responded.

“Hey,” Jim protested. “I’m right here, can’t you at least pretend to be nice to me?”

“Nice doesn’t seem to hold your attention span for very long,” McCoy observed as he himself started to look around the room.

“He’s got you there again, Jim,” Sulu smiled.

“God damn it,” McCoy swore as he turned back towards the pair of them. “They follow me everywhere,” he said as he shook his head.

“Game face,” Jim replied. “We spotted him earlier. Sulu has plans to distract him,” Jim said as he leaned in close to speak directly into McCoy’s ear.

“If he’s here and Hikaru is still around, they won’t think anything I tell them from you is worth anything,” McCoy replied.

“Good point,” Jim agreed. He turned towards his partner. “Sulu, get lost,” Jim told him with a big grin on his face.

Sulu laughed. “Fuck off, I was here first!”

Jim put his beer on the bar and reached over to pluck the glass out of McCoy’s hand.

“Hey!” McCoy protested as he pulled the glass out of the reach of Jim, taking care not to spill a drop. “Don’t get between a man and his bourbon,” McCoy glared at him as he took a sip.

“Drink up then,” Jim ordered. “Or I will take it from you.”

“This is good stuff, you don’t chug it,” McCoy told him as he took another sip.

Jim waited until he started to lower it down before he stole the glass right out of his hand and took a sip himself.

“Not bad,” he said into the glaring face of McCoy.

He handed the drink back. “I left you a bit,” he said in a placating tone.

The expression on McCoy’s face told him in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t good enough.

“You owe me another one,” McCoy told him after taking his final sip and handing the glass to him.

Jim put the glass on the bar and grabbed McCoy by the arm. “C’mon,” he told him as he stepped up close and turned him around.

He nodded at Sulu and then kept pulling McCoy with him as he worked his way through the crowd.

“Where are you going, kid?” McCoy grumbled at him but still kept up with him as Jim let his hand drift down his arm so that he was gripping just above McCoy’s wrist.

McCoy finally realized the direction they were heading towards, “The dance floor? Really?”

“Perfect distraction,” Jim told him. “Plus if they try and get close it’s gonna be obvious.”

“Fine, but I don’t really dance, just warning you,” McCoy said into his ear.

“Don’t ask Sulu about my abilities,” Jim told him.

“Great! We are both gonna look stupid together,” McCoy grumbled as Jim started to wind his way amongst the other dancers on the dance floor. “I’m too old for this shit!”

They were both jostled back and forth between the sweaty heaving bodies as Jim kept pulling them towards the middle of the floor, trying to find a space. He finally managed to find a spot, his abrupt stopping had McCoy literally running into the back of him. Space on the floor was at a premium so Jim just turned around and stayed close to McCoy.

They were both almost of the same height, McCoy seemed to have just a smidgen on him. Jim still had hold of his wrist, so he could feel the heat and a tinge of sweat. All around them, bodies were moving in time and counter point. He could feel the throb of the beat coming up from the floor while the lights pulsed and spun above them as it flickered through the cloying and smokey haze of the atmosphere.

Jim blinked as he realized that they had been standing still on the dance floor for God knows how long. He leaned close again to order McCoy to “just dance.”

Jim felt like an idiot, dancing with a man. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, where he was supposed to brush up against or not. With a woman he knew all the good spots, where to tease and flicker little touches. McCoy was different. His eyes were dark as he too started to move, legs brushing against each other, then a tentative touch, so light Jim wasn’t sure it actually happened or if it was a figment of his imagination, but then it happened again and again. McCoy’s hand was brushing up against his hip as he moved back and forth.

Jim leaned in close so that he could speak into McCoy’s ear, tongue and lips almost touching the smooth skin of the shell of it.

“So how does it work?” Jim asked.

“What?” McCoy confusedly replied.

“The bisexual thing,” Jim explained.

There was a stunned look from McCoy before he shook his head and leaned in close to Jim. Closer than Jim had gotten. As he spoke Jim could feel his lips actually touching his ear, which distracted him enough that his brain wasn’t able to fully parse what was being said to him.

“Well, it’s real simple, kid. When a boy likes another boy, or even if a boy likes a girl or that girl likes another girl there is generally a dick going into a nice warm, soft entrance and things start to feel real good,” McCoy drawled heavily into his ear.

“Wait, what?” Jim pulled back slightly so he could look McCoy in the face.

The song had changed to an old school classic that had many in the club waving their arms in the air and singing along in the highest pitch they could muster that they all “feel love”. The accompanying lighting effect bathing all on the dance floor was a soft yellow light.

The color was not one that should have looked good on McCoy’s face but Jim couldn’t tear his eyes away. “Surely not with the girls? You as a doc should know they don’t have the right parts,” Jim said.

“Seriously, you’ve never heard of SOS? You really are vanilla aren’t you?” McCoy snorted at him. That eyebrow of disdain made its presence known.

“Am not!” Jim protested which just made the smirk on McCoy’s face grow and the eyebrow get higher. “SOS?”

McCoy kept smiling slyly at him. “Strap on sex, Jim-Boy,” he drawled.

Jim’s brain went from protesting to determined even before he cottoned on to its intention. All he knew was that the next thing he did was kiss a man. Not just any man, but one that he had been thinking of on a regular basis for a couple of months. The scary part was that he was being kissed back and at some stage he had wrapped his arm around McCoy’s back and was gripping his ass. He had also slid his other hand down so that he could wrap his hand with McCoy’s. All this came to him when McCoy pulled away from the kiss. Lips disengaging and Jim just wanted to chase after them again. To feel the soft pressure of them, taste the little tease of bourbon he got from the long but too brief kiss.

“Jim?” McCoy was looking at him with a confused expression on his face.

“Fuck it, Bones,” Jim whispered before he closed the gap and kissed him again, opening his lips slightly and licking his way inside.

McCoy...Bones...was gripping his ass and pulling him in close. He could feel the beat move through their bodies. The sounds of the club were dulled as he tried to concentrate on the man who was making an attempt to meld their bodies into one, be it via their hands, their lips or their hips as Jim felt something brush up against him that he never had before. He sucked at the tongue invading his mouth and could feel the stubble rubbing against his face as they moved back and forth trying to find the best angle. It wasn’t a perfect kiss. Teeth clashed and they sometimes didn’t quite fit together perfectly but Jim only wanted more.

He slid his palm up from the curve of Bones’ ass, maneuvered it under his shirt and found bare skin. Hot, moist, bare skin. Bones groaned into his mouth and pressed in harder with everything he had. Jim heard nothing but white noise, could feel nothing but hot breath and smooth skin. All he could think was that this better not end. Ever.

“Jim! Jim!” he heard his name being called and felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him.

“Wha...What?” Jim blinked as he pulled away. The sights and sounds of the club came rushing back to all his senses.

Bones had tried to pull away slightly and was looking down at the floor.

The hand on Jim’s shoulder and the voice in his ear belonged to his partner. His partner who had just seen him kissing someone. Sulu had seen him in action a few times before and Jim had witnessed Sulu making his own moves. This was different though, and the look on Sulu’s face held many a question Jim wasn’t sure if he knew the answers to.

“Time to make your escape,” Sulu said instead as he nodded towards the raised balcony.

Sure enough, Sulu had encouraged a few of his pals to waylay Popov and the man was blocked from seeing them as he was trying to fend off some very interested admirers.

“See you tomorrow,” Sulu said as he nodded towards the door, a serious look on his face.

“C’mon Bones,” Jim said as he tugged on their joined hands.

Jim found he had a very pliant and quiet accomplice as they made their way towards the front door. He took a longer route around some pillars, keeping them both as far out of sight for Popov as possible just in case he did manage to break away from the horde.

As they headed down the stairs and neared the front door, the cooler air from outside could be felt. “Night,” one of the bouncers said as they exited the club.

“Yeah,” Jim replied as his ears adjusted to the outside cool and open air. The line for the club stretched along the building, so Jim pulled Bones to follow him back up Market and away from the line.

He was able to make it almost one block and hadn’t found a taxi, when the cool air seemed to finally snap Bones out of his pliancy. He stopped dead and pulled on their joined hands so that Jim had to stop too or lose his grip.

“Jim, what the fuck was that?” he asked quietly. His voice even huskier than normal, whether from the smokey atmosphere of the club or maybe from something else.

Jim thought about some smart ass brush off remark, but he was loath to let go of Bones’ hand, so he stepped up close and stared into the face which was looking back at him slightly warily.

“You said I was vanilla and yet you don’t know what a kiss is?” Jim asked in reply instead.

Bones looked away as he growled a little bit under his breath. It was an incredibly sexy sound and had Jim leaning in and pressing a kiss to the side of his neck that was exposed.

“Jim,” Bones breathed out. “Don’t.”

“Why not?” Jim asked as he pressed another kiss, this time under his ear and he felt Bones shiver. He blinked to himself as he realized that at some stage during that kiss he no longer considered this man to be McCoy, an undercover agent. He was now Bones and it meant something completely different. Jim maybe wasn’t as straight as he thought he was. He flicked his tongue out and licked at the ear lobe that was teasing him and asking for it.

“Jim,” Bones groaned his name. “We are on a street,” he reminded him.

“So?” Jim asked as he sucked at the lobe before following the shape upwards with his tongue and teasing into his ear.

Bones grabbed at him and pulled him closer as he groaned again. “Anyone can see,” he managed to breath out.

“Don’t care. Want to kiss you,” Jim admitted as he pulled away to stare at Bones and those lips of his.

He leaned toward them, drawn by some force. At the last possible second, Bones pulled away again.

“No,” he said as he sucked his lower lip into his mouth, and then released it out again. All moist and plump.

“Bones,” Jim groaned as he leaned in again so he could breathe against that tempting pout. “It’s the Castro. Pretty sure they have seen guys kissing on the street before around here.”

“Jim, the Russians aren’t around here, you don’t have to pretend anymore,” Bones explained. “Don’t call me that stupid nickname.”

“Bones, Bones, Bones,” Jim recited to him. “Suits you. That is most definitely a boner I feel right there,” Jim said as he rubbed their groins together. “Mind you if it isn’t, then way to make a guy feel inadequate!”

“Jim!” Bones angrily said, but Jim detected a hint of something else in his voice too. Possibly a hint of fear. He was as affected by what had happened as Jim was. Jim knew that he should probably be freaking out right now about how turned on he was by the man in front of him, but all he wanted was to be somewhere he could explore and see where this was going. He could freak out about it tomorrow.

Jim jumped off the cliff, as he was wont to do on many an occasion. Mostly it was with some calculation that he knew where he was going to land. This was a blind jump where he didn’t know what was over that cliff, but he really hoped it was going to end in a nice soft landing. Preferably a bed.

He kissed him again. It was even better, if that was possible. Jim groaned Bones’ name into his mouth as he teased and invited Bones’ tongue to follow and lead.

“Why?” Bones asked when they finally broke for air. Their breathes mingled and blended in the cool of the evening. The chill was enough that they could see the hot air from their mouths escaping out and away.

Jim was rubbing his hard on up against Bones’ groin. “Ain’t fucking pretending,” Jim declared.

Bones closed his eyes as he tilted his head up towards the night sky.

“And I’m too fucking old to get off in some dirty, dank and disgusting alley,” Bones said quietly.

“Good,” Jim agreed as he looked around the street.

It was his lucky night, a cab had just dropped off a couple of revelers and Jim waved at the driver to get his attention.

“Good?” Bones asked confusedly.

The driver saw his arm waving and moved his car towards them slowly.

“C’mon,” Jim said as he started to walk towards the cab.

“Jim? What?” Bones was still a little behind on what they were doing.

“Get in,” Jim ordered as they reached the cab and the driver pulled it to a stop. Jim opened the back door and started to get in, still not wanting to let go of Bones’ hand.

Mercifully Bones did as he was told. It was only once Jim had given directions to the driver and the door shut that he let go of Bones’ hand so that he could pull the seat belt on.

The ride to his apartment was made in silence, with Jim occasionally glancing over at Bones who was resolutely watching outside the window. Jim wanted to touch him again, but he let Bones be for the moment. So far when they had touched each other, rational thought kinda made a run for the hills. Jim was trying to be mature and shit, but on the plus side, his libido said they were going to his apartment and it would be hard for Bones to avoid him there.


	4. Part Four

The cab pulled over to the side of the road opposite Jim’s apartment building. He leaned forward to pay the driver and then opened the door to get out.

“C’mon, Bones,” he said, a little worried that Bones might order the cab to take him back to his own place before Jim could talk to him. He held out his hand toward Bones.

With a little nod, Bones slid over and exited out the door. Jim smiled and closed it before turning and walking over towards his building. He pulled his keys out of his pocket as he jogged up the steps to the front door. He looked back over his shoulder to check and see where Bones was. The man was slowly following him up the steps, looking up at the building.

Jim opened the front door and waited until Bones had walked into the foyer with him. In silence, they walked together up the stairs to his apartment, Bones hanging back slightly waiting to see which direction Jim would walk before following.

As they turned into his hallway, Jim could hear the TV loudly playing from Mrs. M’s apartment down the far end, (some late night infomercial), and music was still blasting up the stairs from 7B, (college kids that were fond of grunge at all hours).

Jim unlocked his front door and shrugged his shoulders apologetically about the noise as he pushed the door open.

Bones walked inside, pausing just inside. Jim followed him in and switched on the light, before re-locking the door and dropping his keys into the bowl on the hallway stand.

“This way, I remember something about owing you a drink,” Jim said as he walked towards his living area and the kitchen.

“Roo-aaw,” Bob greeted him as he marched back and forth along the kitchen bench, tail swaying upright with each step.

“Heya Bob,” Jim said as he patted the cat who had stopped and was now rubbing his head up against his hand.

“Never took you for a cat person,” Bones finally spoke.

Bob had froze at the sound of new voice and was staring at Bones.

“Well, he’s not really mine, just kinda visits most nights, don’t ya Bob?” Jim was patting the cat who was still standing remarkably still and staring.

“Bob?” Bones asked, finally looking Jim in the eye for the first time since they had gotten in the cab.

“Had to call him something, no name on his collar. So Thingamabob it was. Bob for short,” Jim explained as he continued to pat the cat who was now sitting still on the bench.

“Again with the nicknames. What is it with you and them? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know,” Bones said as he waved a hand in the air and started to walk slowly around the living room.

Jim moved over to the fridge, opened the door and pulled out two beers. He turned to find Bones standing with his back to him and staring out one of his windows. The view was fairly unspectacular, the brick wall of the neighboring building. If you stood at the right angle in the far corner near the kitchen area you could almost see out and around the corner, but the view was not one of the plus points of the apartment.

From the pull of the shirt Jim could tell that Bones had crossed his arms. The glow from the ambient street lights was illuminating his outline as he stood by the sofa. His hair was a little more disheveled than the normal ‘old man’ style he favored. It suited him better a little messed up, Jim thought.

“I’ve got some spirits but I don’t think they will measure up to your exacting standards,” Jim said as he offered one of the bottles to Bones. “Consider that I still owe you a drink.”

Bones took the bottle, their fingers brushing along the neck. Jim was almost loath to let go, but the little hint of skittishness that was hanging around Bones in the way that he was holding himself made Jim aware that pushing was not an option at this time.

“So,” Jim sighed as he took a swig of his own beer.

Bones flicked him a glance out of the corner of his eyes and took his own sip.

Jim turned to the side to better to observe Bones and he leaned up against his kitchen table between the gaps of his mismatched dining chairs. He placed one hand down to rest along the back of one of fifties style diner chair.

Bones lowered his eyelids as he shook his head slightly from side to side.

“Bad fucking idea,” he swore quietly.

“What?” Jim asked as he went to stand up straight and take a step towards Bones.

Bones went from skittish to pissed off in about a millisecond. Jim involuntarily went back to almost sitting on the kitchen table as Bones stepped towards him.

“It’s bad enough we are stuck in this situation, but you made it all kinds of messed up tonight with that little brain fade. How the hell will it look in a report or even in court if it gets out that you kissed me. Even Sulu saw! What if he tells Pike? Did you _want_ to mess up the case?” Bones growled at him.

Jim sighed. “You’re right. It’s just you are one hell of an enigma so I pushed a little. No harm, no foul?” he asked.

“Just. Just. Don’t. Alright?” Bones said as he gestured his frustration with his hand in the air, the one that still held his drink.

“Yeah. ‘kay,” Jim agreed. “We’ll just tell Pike it was a cunning plan to lull the Russians into trusting you more. If Popov got a look at it, he will tell Novikov and you should be even more sweet with them feeding you info. At least now we know they are mostly giving us dud leads, but in a way that’s making it easier to pick out what they are up to from where they are trying to keep us away from. Got some good surveillance going on now. Can’t make a move on anything though, until those damn Romanians turn up,” Jim told Bones.

“There’s something coming soon, I do know that,” Bones replied.

He hadn’t moved away and was still standing very close to Jim. Right up in his personal space. There was a whole apartment for the two of them to be in and yet they both were in this small space that would normally satisfy one person. It was bad enough after their earlier kisses to be in a place alone together, but now that he was all up in Jim’s personal space, things were going on downstairs that Jim was trying hard to ignore. He was trying to be as professional as he could, but Bones was one hell of an attractive guy who kissed like he meant it.

“Yeah, good,” Jim said as he put the beer bottle down on the table. “Look I need to use the bathroom, make yourself comfortable on the couch, talk to Bob. I’ll be back in a bit,” Jim excused himself, brushing past Bones in order to head over towards his bedroom and the bathroom beyond.

“I’m in so much trouble,” Jim quietly said to himself as he shut the door to the bathroom and walked over towards the toilet. He palmed his still hard cock in his hand, rubbing against it with the friction of his underwear and jeans.

He bit his lip to try and contain his moans as he flipped up the lid to the toilet and then undid the zipper to his jeans. He worked his cock up and down, using his pre-cum as lubrication. He didn’t have time to head to his bedroom and get the lube that he kept in the nightstand, plus the small problem he had that he hadn’t closed his bedroom door in his haste to get to the bathroom.

He started to play over in his mind the image of Bones as he was tonight. Casual but hot as fuck. Jim imagined licking down his chest where his bare skin was revealed by the open neck of his shirt. Playing with the small pendant and chain. The hairs on Bones’ chest tickling his tongue. Licking and nipping his way back up the chest. Sucking at the base of Bones’ throat as he tipped his head back and made that growling noise in his throat again.

Jim got his other hand into the action, playing with his balls and the base of his cock. He was so hard that one hand wasn’t enough to deal with his issue.

Jim jumped in surprise as the bathroom door was shoved open with some force. Bones was standing in the doorway, a determined look on his face. Jim was sure that if the wind changed, the look that would be permanent on his face would be one of shock and slight embarrassment at being caught jerking off.

“You always take a piss while hard?” Bones said as he stalked the three steps needed to get him to cross the small room.

“Um,” Jim responded eloquently as one of Bones’ hands joined Jim’s on his cock.

“Bones, you were right before. We can’t fuck this up,” Jim finally managed to say slightly coherently as he looked down to see Bones batting his own hands away.

“Shut up, kid,” Bones said as he dropped down to his knees once he had gotten Jim’s hands off his cock.

Bones held onto Jim’s hips and turned him so that his back was to the wall now.

“Fuck,” Jim groaned as his head dropped back onto the cold hard tiles. Hot, wet lips were working their way down his cock. Most girls would go straight for wrapping their lips over the head of his cock and sucking away from the get go. Those times felt good but Bones was taking his time, nibbling and licking. It was...well...better.

Jim dipped his head forward so he could watch those pink, full lips wrapping and teasing around his cock. Bones’ eyes had drifted shut, his long eyelashes resting on his cheek. Jim’s eyes wandered from freckle to mole to scar and back to the lips again as Bones worked and sucked at his own slow pace.

“Bones,” Jim breathed. “Bed!”

Bones licked one long stripe from the base of his cock and up to the tip before he opened his eyes and looked up at Jim.

“You didn’t want an alley, and well, fuck, there’s a bed right there,” Jim shakily pointed towards his bed. The corner of it was visible from their position in the bathroom.

Bones looked up at him, a considering look in his eyes, but silent for a moment and then he spoke, “when were you last tested?”

“What?” Jim blinked, the question seeming out of the blue, but the man asking it still had his hands on his dick. “A couple of months ago.” Jim wasn’t sure what made answer so quickly, but it could have been the ring of dark green at the edge of Bones’ eyes. Dark and full of promise. “There was this raid. Some druggies caused a few issues, and so everyone had to get tested, just in case. You know, stupid departmental paranoia and what not.” Jim knew he was babbling but he just couldn’t see to stop. Then what Bones did next ceased all the babbling quite effectively.

Bones stood up but kept a hand on Jim’s cock as he started to walk backwards away from him. He was literally leading Jim around by his dick. God it felt good.

“Bones?” Jim managed to ask as they stepped out of the brightly lit bathroom and into his bedroom with the sheets that were still unmade from this morning. The room was dim, but the light from the bathroom and the living area was enough to illuminate the outline of the furniture.

“Just don’t ask, kid,” Bones said intently as he started to toe off his shoes all the while keeping up a slow and steady glide up and down with his hand.

It was enough of a promise that Jim decided to literally just fuck it and go with the flow, with what was on offer here. He had been thinking about how things would work and it seems he was about to find out first hand. Sulu was one of his closest buddy's here in San Fran but there are some things you can ask your gay friend and some things you just don’t.

Jim eagerly toed off his own shoes and reached forward to work the buttons open on Bones’ shirt. He wanted to see how far down that golden tan went, since Jim’s own Irish ancestry was the bane of his life. No matter how much sun he got, it still refused to go any color close to a tan, or even a light beige.

Bones used his free hand to work Jim’s pants and underwear off. As they pooled at his feet, Jim stepped out of them and spread his hands so that Bones’ shirt fell down his arms. It hung just down from his elbows and the slight restriction of it, due to Bones having his hands on his body, and it was enough to bring back the memory of handcuffing and bending Bones over.

Jim groaned.

“Good thought, kid?” Bones asked as he stepped closer so that he could rub Jim’s cock up and down on his own jean clad legs.

“Remembering you in cuffs, you sly bastard,” Jim said as he leaned up so that he could kiss Bones.

That press of lips was what tipped him over the edge it seemed. His hands left Jim’s cock to pull and tug and fight with the buttons of Jim’s shirt. Once removed, Bones kept one hand roaming over Jim’s body while the other hand moved towards his own jeans and started to undo them. Jim moved his own hands down to help out.

There was some swearing and readjustments being made while they fought to be the first one to get Bones as naked as Jim was. Jim was back to sliding his tongue into Bones mouth, teasing and tasting and plundering as best he could. He felt the smoothness of Bones’ hair as he slid his hand up Bones’ back, to his neck and then onto his head, so he could grip and angle the way he wanted it.

Bones kicked away his pants before plastering his body back into Jim’s. His hands came up to cradle and pull at Jim’s hair, then he was pushing him sideways and back so they could tumble into an inelegant tangle onto the bed. They bounced slightly as they landed and Jim took the opportunity to move upwards a bit. He pulled and coaxed at Bones to come with him and the man was eager. Oh God, was he eager.

Jim’s impression from watching Bones these past months was of a man who was comfortable in his own skin, who was quietly assured of his place in the world. One who was slow and measured. Jim’s impression was very, very wrong. Hands were almost everywhere, while he seemed to be trying to creep into Jim’s soul via his mouth.

“Huh?” Jim said, trying to figure out what Bones was doing with his feet. “You have a foot fetish?”

“Not fucking you with socks on,” Bones growled as he kissed down Jim’s neck.

Jim laughed and sat up so he could pull his socks off. He tossed them onto the floor and smiled over at Bones who was doing the same. His smile changed into a slightly sly one as he moved quickly back up the bed and pulled open his drawer to get out the lube he kept there. He turned back to brandish it. His smile faded as he took in the sight before him. Naked Bones lying on his bed, on his side with his head resting on his hand as he looked at Jim hungrily. He held his other hand out towards Jim.

“Hand it over,” he ordered.

Jim considered the order, while Bones let his eyes drop down, making a slow perusal of his own naked body. As his view reached Jim’s cock, he smiled and gestured again with his hand, while Jim’s cock twitched at the possibilities of what on earth he was going to do with the lube.

Jim was a little hesitant, but he handed it over.

“Come over here, Sunshine,” Bones drawled at him.

“There you go with the nicknames again, and you tell me off,” Jim complained as he moved back over and lay down alongside Bones, mirroring his posture, apart from the lubing up his cock motion.

He watched as Bones poured a generous amount of lube into his hand and then slowly spread it over his considerable erection. Now Jim knew that he himself was a fair size but what he had felt earlier in the night, he was right about. Bones was almost as generously proportioned as himself. He was the thicker of the two, so he had that over Bones. The light spilling into the room was making the lube glisten as Bones worked it up and down. The amount he had put on there appeared to be a little too generous for his needs.

“Got a little too much there,” Jim observed.

“Nope, got enough,” Bones replied, his eyelids dropping heavily over his eyes so there was only a sliver of his pupils for Jim to see.

It was enough to have him almost shivering from the intent look he was receiving, but Jim had faced down enough perps with their guns, and in one interesting case a machete. He should not be rattled by a naked guy in his bed.

“Closer,” Bones whispered.

“What?” Jim replied.

“Come closer,” Bones directed.

Jim obeyed, watching as Bones’ breaths were getting harsher as he worked himself harder. There was only a couple of inches between their bodies. Bones slid the arm that had been holding his head up under Jim while those long fingers that were working his cock with such nimbleness moved over to wrap around Jim’s. Bones pressed their bodies together and brought Jim’s now partially slicked cock so that it touched Bones’.

Jim hissed in surprise as Bones wrapped his hand around both their cocks and started working them up and down together, coating them both in the lube and creating a delicious friction. Especially on the upward stroke when the heads would rub together.

“See, perfect amount for our needs,” Bones whispered into his mouth.

As Bones increased the pace, their breaths got more ragged and although their lips were touching, kissing was not an option while they both continued to gasp their pleasure.

Jim pulled Bones even closer, his hand drifting down to rest and push just above Bones’ ass.

“Yes!” Jim cried as he started to feel his orgasm build.

Bones rolled him over and let go of his cock. Jim moaned his displeasure at the loss of joined contact, but then Bones was pushing him into his bed while he rutted and slid against him.

Jim panted and said things he wasn’t quite aware of, but all he knew was at that time it was his only way to express how good it felt. Their lips were teasing, incapable of closing that final distance. Moans and groans filled the room and then Jim yelled. There was a flash of white behind his eyelids as his orgasm hit him and he pulsed and shuddered his way to completion.

Bones was thrusting his hips harder now as his head pushed into the crook of Jim’s neck and then he too was coming.

They lay entwined together, sticky and heaving chests as they tried to regain the oxygen that had been lost from their bodies at their pleasure.

Bones eventually rolled off of him and lay at his side, one arm covering his eyes and breathing deeply.

Jim watched his chest rise and fall, the silver chain catching the light as Bones’ chest moved upwards.

They lay that way in silence for a while, Bones hiding behind his arm and Jim watching him, his eyelids dropping tiredly over his eyes every now and again.

All of a sudden Bones moved quickly off the bed and headed into the bathroom. Jim leaned up on his elbows to see if he could watch and see what Bones was up to. He could have gotten up and pursued the man into the bathroom easily, but he was tired and just wanted to sink back into his pillows that lay forgotten up against the headboard of his bed.

He heard running water being turned on and then a short while later, off again. Bones then walked back into the room and came back to the bed. He crawled carefully onto it and started to clean up Jim’s stomach and cock with the warm wash cloth he had in his hand.

“Why, Bones?” Jim asked as he watched the top of the dark head. Bones had his head bent over as he worked diligently at his task, almost making it impersonal with the lack of eye contact or even speech.

“I told you not to ask,” Bones said.

“You were right about me, I’m not one to listen too often,” Jim replied. “Why? What made you change your mind?”

“I knew what you were doing in there, kid,” Bones finally looked up at him. The intent, hungry look of lust had been replaced by Dr. McCoy’s serious controlled face. “You were hard as fuck when you walked past me and well, I heard you moan. Only so much teasing a man can cope with in one evening. It was either that or stay out there and be stared at disapprovingly by that cat,” Bones grumbled.

Jim laughed. “I get a great orgasm and I get to thank Bob for it? Will have to get him a good treat tomorrow.”

“Don’t introduce Pike to that damn cat, he’ll probably hire him as an agent for interrogations,” Bones said as he got up off the bed, his ministrations over. Jim felt the loss of Bones’ hands on his body.

He heard Bones rinsing out the wash cloth and he made a mental note to not use it tomorrow morning when he showered; to get a new one out. Bones walked out of the bathroom and turned the light out. Jim raised himself up on his elbows as he saw Bones bend over and pick up his clothes, then sit on the end of the bed and start to dress himself.

“Um, Bones,” Jim started to say.

“Look, thanks for the drink,” Bones said to him. “I have to be at work tomorrow morning, so I’ll just get a cab.”

Bones was now standing as he buttoned up his shirt.

“Let me call you one,” Jim offered as he sat up.

“Nah, stay there. Bit stupid you getting up when you just will need to get back in there again. I’ll let myself out.” And on that note, Bones was walking out the room.

Jim bounded off the bed to follow him. He caught up with him by the front door.

Jim put his hand on the door to stop Bones from opening it. “You could, you know, stay if you want,” he offered.

Bones sighed and then turned around. “No, Jim,” he replied. “I’ll call you when I get more info.”

Bones turned back and pulled the chain loose before twisting the door knob. Jim released his hand off the door and stepped back so as to allow Bones to open it and leave his apartment. Bones didn’t look back once and Jim watched him through a small gap in the door he left open in order to do so. Once his chestnut hair, fully disheveled still from Jim’s own hands, disappeared out of sight, Jim finally shut and relocked his door.

“Well, fuck,” Jim said as he leaned back against it.

***

“Um, Boss.” Christine stood hesitantly in the doorway to his office.

He had glanced up from his small desk as she cleared her throat to get his attention. Her eyes were darting nervously back towards the waiting room and he could make out a hulking man dressed in a suit that was pulling tight across his shoulders. His back was to Christine. From that quick glance Leonard thought it was one of the Sokolov brothers.

“Yes, Nurse Chapel?” Leonard replied.

“Mr. Novikov is here to see you; he doesn’t have an appointment,” Christine started to explain, but then she stiffened when the man in question stepped up next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

“My good friend Leonard’s door is always open,” Vasily said. “Isn’t that right, Leonard?”

“That’s alright, Nurse Chapel. Tell Mrs. Berks I am running a little late and will see her as soon as I am finished with Mr. Novikov,” Leonard said calmly.

Christine nodded at him and turned so that she could walk back to her desk. He could tell that she was distressed but trying to hide it. She was trying to slip away as she politely as she could, due to her horror at finding Novikov and his bodyguards in the same room with her. Vasily had never visited the office before. Sure, Leonard had treated a few of his flunkies, but never the higher ups. They were always a call out.

Vasily patted Christine on the shoulder as she moved away, a sly little smile on his well-weathered face. The heavy gold rings on his hand, flashing with diamonds, were glinting in the bright fluorescent light.

Vasily stepped into his room and Leonard indicated the patient chair that was located at the end of his desk.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Leonard asked as he leaned back in his own chair.

Sure enough, as he suspected, Lebedev was not far behind Vasily. The bodyguard stepped into the room and shut the door to his office and then stood in front of it.

“Can’t I visit my friend, Leonard?” Vasily asked as he opened his arms to pretend innocence.

“You are well? Nothing you need to talk to your physician about?” Leonard asked, watching Vasily warily.

“I am very well,” Vasily replied. “You take good care of me.”

“So you are here for Lebedev then?” Leonard replied as he nodded towards the large man protecting his door. “He stress his vocal cords by not speaking?”

Lebedev’s eyes flared as he took a step away from the door. Vasily held up a hand as he chuckled at the pair of them.

“I do need to talk to you, Leonard,” Vasily smiled at him.

Leonard sat back in his chair and waited for Vasily to continue.

“I understand your social life has, how shall I put it? Ah, yes. It has started. I am pleased for you, Leonard. I worry about you alone in that apartment most nights. Good to see you going out on the town,” Vasily steepled his hands together in front of his chest, resting his chin on the tips of his fingers.

Leonard just bit his tongue and waited with what he hoped was a non-committal look upon his face.

“Miss Oriana would be most upset to know that you achieved an invitation to see the inside of Agent Kirk’s apartment,” Vasily said as he watched Leonard intently.

“How did...” Leonard started to ask before he stopped himself.

Vasily smiled at him. “Dear Leonard, nothing my boys do, I do not know within minutes.”

Leonard just glared at him.

“Ah, you are upset. Do not be. I am very pleased, and to show you how pleased, I have some information I would like you to pass onto Agent Kirk.” Vasily reached a hand forward to pat Leonard’s knee.

“Do you now?” Leonard asked as he glared at the hand on his knee.

Vasily lifted it off in a placating gesture before he started to speak again. “Yes, I do. Now please listen very carefully, Leonard,” and with that Vasily was leaning forward and speaking quickly, imparting his next set of false information for Leonard.

***

“Jim! Wait up,” Sulu called towards him as he walked towards the tech room.

Jim kept walking, but Sulu grabbed his arm, stopped him and turned him around.

“I’m busy, Sulu,” Jim said as he tried to pull his arm free.

“So busy that all you can do is ignore your partner all day so far?” Sulu said to him quietly, as he stepped in closer.

Sulu had to look up at him, but Jim could tell that he was really pissed off. Jim had seen the curiosity on his face when he arrived at the office that morning, but he had managed to avoid him for most of it. There were questions he just wasn’t quite ready to answer to yet. Most of all what the sight of the two half drunk beer bottles on his dining table meant.

Jim blinked away the memory of standing and eating his breakfast just looking at those bottles.

“Pike’s already asked me about last night,” Sulu told him.

Jim couldn’t help the initial look of shock that crossed his face. “What did you say?” he asked as he glanced around to see if anyone was paying close attention to them.

“Keep walking, Jim,” Sulu said after he obviously noted Jim glancing around the office.

Jim turned and kept walking towards the back rooms where the technical equipment was located and where Pavel and Scotty reigned supreme. Sulu fell into step beside him, the pair of them brushing against each other when the space between the desks narrowed.

“I said we went to The Café like we had arranged. McCoy showed up with his watchdog. I arranged for a diversion so that you and he could talk without being disturbed but that you would brief him on that talk,” Sulu said.

They had reached the corridor when Sulu grabbed hold of his arm again. “So, how did it go?” he asked.

“What?” Jim responded.

“The ‘private chat’,” Sulu sighed at him.

“Went fine,” Jim said as he pulled his arm free and kept walking down the corridor.

“Bullshit,” Sulu called after him.

“What did you say?” Jim asked as he turned to glare at his partner.

“You heard me,” Sulu continued to speak as he walked toward Jim again. “I wasn’t the one with my tongue down McCoy’s throat! So how did the ‘private chat’ go?” Sulu challenged him, his eyes narrowing as he spoke.

“Fuck’s sake, Sulu!” Jim hissed.

“Jim, I need to know what happened when you guys left. Popov managed to extricate himself from my buddies about 15 minutes after you, I’m not sure if you two would notice if you were followed,” Sulu explained.

Jim ran his hand through his hair. “We went back to my place, had a beer and just talked about the case a little. Nothing else happened and we weren’t followed. I checked when the cab arrived,” Jim said as he looked back around the corridor to make sure they were the only ones in it.

“Jim,” Sulu said with a disbelieving tone.

“That’s all, nothing happened. We were just playing along for Popov’s benefit. They should trust Bones more now and hopefully give us something legit to work with. Don’t worry Sulu, it’ll be good. I’ll update Pike later,” Jim smiled his confident smile at Sulu, clapped him on the shoulder, and headed for the Tech room.

As he opened the door, the sound of rapid fire Russian being spoken between Uhura and Pavel escaped from the room. He entered and held the door open for Sulu to follow him in. Scotty was bent over as he fiddled with some of the dials on the receiver that was pushed up against the wall. On either side of him were Pavel and Uhura. They had both pushed their headphones back off their ears just enough so that they could talk to each other intently but quietly.

“So, anything interesting?” Jim asked to catch their attention.

Pavel looked up in surprise but a wide grin broke across his face at the sight of the pair of them. Uhura’s face, in contrast, was a careful mask of nothing. She was dressed in her favorite color, red again. This time an elegant pant suit. Her long legs were crossed as she sat gracefully in the standard hard backed chair.

“Nothing as yet, Agent Kirk,” she spoke. “Although there appears to be some murmurings in the background and Montgomery is going to increase the signal for us.”

“These the notes from this morning?” Jim asked as he walked towards Pavel and the pad lying in front of him on the desk.

“Yes, Jim. Sorry, Agent Kirk,” Pavel said as he flashed a quick look towards the serene Uhura.

“No probs, Pavel. I told you to call me Jim, we are all friends around here and friends use their friend’s first names,” Jim said as he smiled at Uhura.

Her response was to slip the headphone back over her ear and look back towards the receiver.

“I’ll just take these over to Sulu and we’ll have a look at them, okay?” Jim said to Pavel as he took the pages that held Pavel’s almost indecipherable scrawl. Doctors and college students had the worst handwriting known to man and Pavel had recently been the latter before a little ‘experiment’ with hacking into the FBI’s mainframe had brought his skills to the attention of Captain Pike.

Pavel nodded, and taking his cue from Uhura, put his headphones back on and picked up his pen so he could jot notes down as he listened.

Scotty stepped away from the machine and nodded towards Uhura. “There you go, Lass. That should have sufficient power now without compromising quality.”

Uhura smiled at him. “Thank you, Montgomery, it sounds clearer already. You are a genius with any machine.”

Scotty blushed slightly at her compliment and then, with a wave towards Sulu and Jim, headed out of the tech room, shutting the door closed behind him.

Jim sank down into a chair and handed half the notes over to Sulu.

“You check those and I’ll check these.”

Sulu nodded as he accepted the notes and sat down into a chair opposite Jim.

They worked in silence for quite a while. Occasionally there would be a soft word or two spoken between Uhura and Pavel but apart from those moments, the room was silent.

The silence was finally broken though as Jim and Sulu looked up in surprise when Pavel breathily exclaimed, “Nyet!”

Uhura was looking at him in shock as she pressed her hand up to better force her headphones closer to her ears.

They continued to exchange silent, shocked looks for a while as they listened. Pavel then started to furiously take down notes. Uhura was looking over his shoulder as she continued to listen and provided the occasional suggestion.

This went on for a period of about ten minutes, while Sulu and Jim waited not so patiently to find out what had gotten Uhura and Pavel’s panties in a twist.

Finally Pavel pulled off his headphones and placed them on the desk. He reached forward and turned off the tape.

“What?” Jim asked. “Don’t leave us sitting back over here clueless!” Jim said.

“He’s a policeman!” Pavel declared.

“Who?” Jim looked over towards Sulu, who wore the same worried expression as he that McCoy’s cover might have been blown.

“Dr. McCoy is your informant, yes?” Pavel asked.

“Who is saying he is a cop?” Jim demanded.

“No, nyet. No. They not say he is cop, his watchdog is!” Pavel announced.

Jim let out a breath he was not aware he had been holding.

“Popov is a cop? We have no information on that,” Sulu said worriedly.

“If he is and they know about him, could Bones be in danger?” Jim asked Sulu.

“I think we need to tell Pike,” Sulu said.

“Wait,” Uhura interrupted. “Who is ‘Bones’?”

“McCoy,” Sulu and Pavel both answered at the same time.

Jim rolled his eyes at the little smile that pair of them shared with each other.

“That’s what Jim calls Dr. McCoy after Pavel translated that when the Russians were calling someone Sawbones. They meant Dr. McCoy. Don’t try and figure out how Jim’s minds works, it just ends up way too confusing,” Sulu explained.

“Hey!” Jim smacked Sulu on the arm.

“You _are_ weird,” Sulu countered.

Jim decided to ignore that in favor of obtaining more information about the possible threat to Bones.

“So Popov is a cop and they know it? Why does Novikov trust him then? Or why has he put Popov on the trail of Bones?” Jim asked.

“Pavel, can you play back the last ten minutes? There were a couple of words that were hard to decipher that might help the agents’ questions out,” Uhura said.

“I can do that!” Pavel replied happily as he reached for the machine and proceed to rewind the recording.

“Do we go to Pike now with this?” Sulu asked quietly as Uhura and Pavel got to work.

“Wait to see what they come up with and then we can present as much information to him as possible. It just doesn’t seem right that Novikov would do something like that,” Jim said, also quietly so as not to disturb Uhura and Pavel.

Sulu nodded his agreement.

“I mean, this is a guy who we know has been in charge of his organization here for years, long suspected but never charged with anything. The man has managed to stay two steps ahead of us and other agencies for years. The IRS can’t pin anything on him and they have a whole section just devoted to him, I read,” Jim continued.

“You’re right, just seems so odd and Novikov is a wily bastard. Never gets his hands dirty and leaves that up to his minions, leaving very fragile links to himself. I mean the guy never got a nickname associated with him like the others. Just mention Novikov and anyone who is anyone in the underworld here shudders with fear,” Sulu said. “If he knows about Popov, and the previous taps we have show that he mentions putting someone he trusts to mind the doctor, I have no idea what deep game he is playing.”

“Ohhh,” Pavel exclaimed.

Jim and Sulu looked towards Pavel, who was smiling at them, headphone pushed back off one ear.

“He was policeman back in Russia, not here. They not seem to trust him but have to under orders from Novikov,” Pavel told them.

“Sulu, go get Scotty to help you hack into the Russian records, find out what you can about Popov back in Russia. Take Pavel too so he can translate. I’ll have a look at the immigration details for him, cause I remember they appeared watertight when Hannity had a look at them,” Jim said.

“Good idea. I’ll get a report going and then we can present it to Pike,” Sulu agreed.

At Jim’s nod, Sulu and Pavel headed out of the room and off to find Scotty and his magic touch with computer systems. Uhura had paused the recording to listen in while they had discussed their plan of action.

“Miss Uhura, are you able to provide a report on all details on that tape relating to Popov?” Jim asked her.

“Most definitely. I would appreciate one more listen through to ascertain that the information is correct and to deduce inflection and tone considerations?” she asked.

“Sure,” Jim smiled at her. “Might take us a little bit to get this info but would prefer to have as much for Captain Pike as possible.”

Uhura nodded at him, her sleek ponytail bobbing in the air with grace at her movement.

“Spock was right about you, you do have remarkable ears,” Jim said.

He was granted one of her slight smiles at the mention of Spock’s compliment and then she turned back to finish listening to the recording.

Jim left the room, off to track down Hannity and her report on the Novikov associates regarding one apparently former policeman amongst them.

***

“Gentlemen, I understand you have some information to impart to me?” Pike gestured for the pair of them to enter his office.

Jim and Sulu walked in and seated themselves in the two chairs across from Pike’s desk.

Sulu slid the report over the desk towards Pike, who picked it up and started reading.

“Talk,” he ordered as he continued to read. “I would like to know what had my team in an uproar this afternoon and why no one was inclined to inform me about anything.”

Sulu looked over at Jim.

“Captain, Miss Uhura and Pavel were monitoring a surveillance tape today of some of the lower ranked associates in the Novikov organization. During the course of their monitoring, they discovered some information that we felt needed further investigation. We wished to ascertain that the information was correct before presenting the findings to you,” Jim explained.

Pike looked up from the report, his lips slightly pursed. “Go ahead, give me the short version of what I have here.”

Jim took a breath before speaking; “Short version is that Kirill Popov was a member of the MVD, Militsiya, aka the police force in Russia. He emigrated to the United States after leaving the force. He was sponsored into this country by excellent references and his distinguished service while with the MVD. It was also helped by the fact that he had family already resident in the U.S. They advised Immigration that there was work within the family business for him, so he would not need government assistance. The family business is Novikov Distributions.”

“What?” Pike asked, shocked as he put the report back down on his desk and stared at Jim.

“Vasily Novikov is the uncle of the former highly decorated police officer, Kirill Popov,” Jim said.

“How did we miss that?” Pike asked, looking from Sulu to Jim and back again.

“At the time he was very low on the food chain, and he appeared to be a legitimate immigrant, so a detailed background check which would have brought forward the link with Novikov wasn’t done,” Jim explained.

“Does he still have links back to the MVD?” Pike asked.

“As far as we can tell, no. He seems to be _Persona Non-Grata_ with his former colleagues and only communicates with his parents. What we are concerned about here is Dr. McCoy’s cover and what this means for him with a trained law enforcement official tailing him around,” Jim said.

Pike sat back in his chair and considered what he had heard.

“I think it would be best to alert Dr. McCoy to this new development so that he is even more mindful of Popov. Set up a meeting, both of you go, make it in plain sight of Popov as much as possible though, we don’t want to alert him that we are onto his background. I want an even more thorough check of him as well. Get Hannity and Burly onto it,” Pike ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Sulu and Jim responded as they stood up from their chairs, knowing full well that they had just been dismissed.

“I’ll call Bones,” Jim said as they walked out of Pike’s office. He glanced at his watch, “He should still be at the practice. You’ll talk to Hannity and Burly?”

“Done,” Sulu agreed as he started to walk over towards the other agent’s desks. He stopped part of the way there and turned back to Jim, “Make it today, we really need to talk to him as soon as possible about it.”

“That was the plan,” Jim said as he walked swiftly over to his desk.

***

Bones was sitting under one of the large umbrellas that was shading various tables when Jim and Sulu arrived.

He had found a far table, a little removed from other people, and he was seated in the chair with his back to the glass front of the restaurant. Jim glanced around and finally spotted Popov, window shopping a little further down the street. He titled his head slightly in that direction and Sulu gave a small nod in reply.

“Bones,” Jim greeted him as he pulled the chair out that was directly opposite Bones’.

Sulu took the chair off to the side. Jim was sure it was all the better to keep Popov in view.

Bones just glared at Jim in response. “Hikaru,” he greeted Sulu.

“So what couldn’t wait?” Bones asked next, still looking at Sulu.

Sulu glanced his way before turning back to Bones. “We got some information off one of the wire taps and had to chase down the lead. The information was such that Pike has told us to pass it on to you,” Sulu explained.

“And?” Bones asked.

Sulu flicked a quick glance towards Jim again, before replying. “This is some information that completely surprised us, so prepare yourself. Did you know that Popov is Novikov’s nephew?”

Bones looked at both of them in shock. “What?” he hissed, obviously trying hard to keep his voice down.

Jim had pushed his own chair back in preparation for the possible explosion from Bones. In the short time he had in observing the man, he had already figured out that Bones tended towards explosions of temper that then settled down quickly.

“The other members don’t like him that much, I do know,” Bones said as he leaned forward on the table to talk quietly to the pair of them. He then straightened back up quickly.

Jim glanced over his shoulder to see a waiter walking their way with a cup of what Jim could only assume was coffee on a tray. They sat in silence while the waiter placed the cup in front of Bones and asked them if they wished to order anything further. Both he and Sulu declined.

They waited until the waiter was far enough away before continuing the conversation.

“It gets worse,” Jim said as he got up from his chair and moved to the one on the other side of Bones.

“How much worse?” Bones watched him carefully, a little frown developing between his eyebrows.

“He was a cop back in Russia, which might explain the mistrust from the others,” Sulu replied. “One who it seemed refused to take bribes from the local mobs.”

“Fuck!” Bones exclaimed. “What the hell is a former Russian cop doing over here working for the mob is the real question, when he wanted nothing to do with them back there. Even if he is related to Novikov.”

“That’s our concern too, especially if he has training in undercover work and the risk to you,” Jim explained.

“There’s always a risk in undercover work, but he does come into the practice a bit, often to talk to my nurse. He is considerably more respectful than the others,” Bones mused.

“We are looking into what other information we can get about why he left the force back in Russia,” Sulu explained. “Until then we need you to make sure you don’t change the way you act around him.”

Bones nodded as he considered the information.

“We are going to have to up the number of contact meetings to keep you as in the loop as possible,” Jim said.

“Can’t call at home or the office, I swear they have both phones bugged,” Bones explained. “I have news for you though. Novikov personally came into the office to pass information on to me this morning that he was adamant I had to get to you ASAP. Lebedev was in the room with him too and two of the Sokolov’s were outside in the waiting area. Lebedev is fully informed about the false information being passed on. Not sure about the Sokolov’s but they are not the brightest of bulbs to begin with, so I think not.”

“ASAP, huh?” Jim said with a little wry smile.

“Saturdays are always busy in the practice,” Bones snapped back. “I didn’t want to call you from the office, but then you called and said you wanted to meet.”

“You quite finished, children?” Sulu interjected.

At the glare from the pair of them, Sulu just shrugged his shoulders unrepentantly.

“Look you guys are gonna have to set me up with a wire soon as well, otherwise, they will get suspicious. I’ll have to try and tip Vasily off too that I have one on,” Bones said.

“Makes sense,” Sulu replied.

Jim nodded. “So what riveting wild goose chase does Mr. Novikov want to send us off on this time?”

“He said that there will be a shipment made to some boys in Hunter’s Point by two men of his acquaintance,” Bones explained, looking around warily.

“A shipment?” Jim queried.

“Only one thing of value gets shipped into Hunter’s Point,” Sulu murmured.

“True,” Jim snorted his agreement. “Did he give you any more details?”

“You mean like a date, time, names, places and the company doing the shipment?” Bones replied.

“Well that would be helpful, but highly unlikely,” Jim replied.

Bones reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. He slid it across the table towards Jim, leaving his hand resting on it but with a little bit of the paper tantalizing from underneath his fingers, waiting for Jim to claim.

“Consider today your lucky day,” Bones told him.

“What?” Sulu said.

Jim took the opportunity to slide the paper out from under Bones’ hand, their fingertips brushing as he did so. Bones quickly snatched his hand away at the touch. Jim then opened up the note to read.

“I don’t know what game he is playing but Hunter’s Point is no picnic for a wild goose chase,” Bones said while Jim was reading the information scrawled across the page. It appeared to be true what they said about doctor’s handwriting.

Jim passed the note over to Sulu and kept silent, waiting for his partners opinion. Jim took the opportunity to press his knee a little to the side and sure enough it came in contact with Bones’ leg. Bones moved his leg away and there was a little pursing at the corner of his mouth, an indication to Jim that the movement away was as deliberate as him pressing forward.

“If this is what he gave us, we are gonna have to make it look full on legit,” Sulu said as he glanced up from the note.

“Need to talk to Pike so he can notify the locals and the DEA at least,” Jim said.

“I know these names, might even need ATF. Those are some serious heavy guys with links to the Delacruz Cartel. Shit,” Sulu said.

“Even better, it’s tomorrow!” Jim announced. “Man, he does like pulling our chain.”

“He hasn’t stayed on top for so long being an idiot,” Bones drawled. “On that note, I shall leave you two to the planning. Gotta get back to the office.” Bones had pushed his chair back from the table and stood up as he spoke.

“Hikaru. Kirk,” Bones nodded at the two of them and motioned for Jim to stay in his seat. He walked swiftly off, long determined strides as he wended his way through the chaos of the tables and chairs of alfresco dining.

Jim kept watching as he noticed Popov trailing behind Bones but on the opposite side of the road.

“Nothing happened, my ass!” Sulu muttered.

“What?” Jim asked as Sulu got up and walked away from the table. “What?” he yelled again as he followed swiftly.


	5. Part Five

“Look, it is very important that I speak to Agent Kirk right now. Please,” Leonard pleaded into the phone receiver.

There was a quiet sigh from the other end and then he was put on hold. He pulled the phone slightly away from his ear. The tinny muzak seemed to be turned up louder than normal. That is what he got for calling into the offices on a Sunday, he supposed. The government’s way of punishing people who should be resting on the Sabbath.

Leonard looked down at his feet, noting the ratty sneakers he had on. They were in marked contrast to the spit and polish of Vasily’s shiny black wingtips. Leonard looked up into the serene face of Vasily, who was seated quite comfortably in his armchair. Standing directly behind Vasily, once again Lebedev. His face was less than serene towards Leonard. The look on Lebedev’s face promised a future full of pain, should Leonard in some way disappoint Vasily.

Leonard glanced away to look around his small living room, anywhere but at the two other men who had disturbed his attempt at a relaxing Sunday. His novel lay abandoned on the side table, dog eared yellowing pages and the well worn spine testifying to it’s age and appreciation.

The muzak clicked off abruptly and Jim introduced himself before Leonard could fully place the receiver back close to his ear.

“Special Agent Kirk, how can I be of assistance?” Jim said.

“Jim, can I meet with you?” Leonard replied.

“Bones,” Jim replied. “Sure, tomorrow is good for me. Got a staff meeting in the morning at nine thirty, but any time is good.”

“Today. Well actually now, I need to see you now,” Leonard insisted, looking at Vasily nervously.

Vasily had that sly little approving smile on his face as he nodded at Leonard.

“I’m a little tied up at the moment,” Jim prevaricated.

“It’s important, Jim. Real important,” Leonard stressed.

“Hang on,” Jim said and Leonard could then hear his muffled heartbeat faintly through the receiver.

Jim had obviously pressed the phone to his chest and was talking with someone else. Leonard was sure it would be Pike.

Vasily had upped the stakes even more and Leonard was suitably nervous and trying not to show it.

The muffled beating stopped.

“You there, Bones?” Jim asked.

“Yeah,” Leonard replied.

“I’ve sorted some stuff out and I can meet you now, where?” Jim asked.

Leonard glanced towards Vasily before answering. “Your place?”

There was a little in drawn breath from Jim that Leonard was able to ascertain. “Okay, can do that. See you soon,” Jim said before disconnecting the call.

Leonard hung up his phone. “He agreed,” he told Vasily.

“Good. Very good, Leonard. See, I told you it would not be difficult,” Vasily smiled at him.

“I need to leave now,” Leonard told him, waiting for Vasily to get out of the chair and leave the house.

Vasily just kept smiling. “Yes, you do. You should not keep Agent Kirk waiting,” Vasily instructed him.

“Um, I need to lock up,” Leonard said as he indicated towards his front door.

Vasily stood smoothly out of the chair and clapped Leonard on both of his upper arms. “Leonard, do not worry. Ilia and I will ensure your house is secured.”

Leonard nodded at Vasily and moved away from him, grabbing his keys from the side table and headed out of his apartment. He walked towards where his car was parked out the front and got in. He was sure that he was still being observed so he held off from thumping the steering wheel and expressing his annoyance verbally until he was well on his way to Jim’s.

Something was majorly up, and the fact that he had to leave his apartment with Lebedev and Vasily inside made him considerably nervous. At least when he moved in, all his personal items were carefully vetted to fit in with his back story. He had been approached by the Russians before a new identity was created for him, and that was particularly unusual in undercover work. They had tried for years to get someone in with this mob and with the pressure from Interpol it just seemed too perfect an opportunity for Pike to miss.

In the rear view mirror, staying the requisite two-to-three car distance behind, Popov was following him. Leonard conceded to himself that the man wasn’t too bad at staying out of sight, if you weren’t looking for someone to be following you. The fact that he knew he was being followed and by whom made it difficult to hide.

Leonard didn’t take any alternative route, just drove as quickly as he could towards Jim’s neighborhood. He didn’t bother with the radio in his car; it was normally turned off anyway. Too many thoughts were flickering back and forth in his head.

Once on the street where Jim’s apartment was situated, he had to circle the block twice in order to find a parking space. It seemed everyone wanted to be home this Sunday. As he finally found a vacant one, Popov drove past him seeking his own space. So Leonard took the opportunity to get out of his car, lock it and head quickly up the steps to Jim’s building, once Popov had turned the corner.

He pressed the buzzer for Jim, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet while he waited for an answer.

“Kirk,” Jim’s voice sounded crackly over the intercom.

“It’s McCoy, let me in quick. Popov has just gone around the corner,” Leonard said as he peeked around the side of the building to check that the man hadn’t found a space quickly.

The click of the door unlatching let him know that Jim had heard him. He pushed it open and quickly ascended the stairs to Jim’s floor. He paused, holding onto the well worn wooden balustrade as he tried to get his breath back to a normal level. With final deep sigh, he let go of the smooth wood and walked the couple of steps over to Jim’s door. As he raised his hand to knock on it, the door opened and there was Jim, still in his work clothes, although his sleeves were now rolled up to reveal his forearms and the light golden hair that dusted them.

“Waiting for me, hmm?” Leonard asked.

Jim stepped back to allow him to enter the apartment, which did look slightly different in the light of day. No small pools of light and objects hidden in shadows. Now all was brightly lit from the sun streaming in from the large windows of the living area and their lack of curtains. Jim’s mismatched furniture and styles were now more obvious. It was clean though, and remarkably devoid of clutter, revealing a little more about the man.

“Gotta be prepared, Bones. Scouts honor,” Jim proclaimed as he lifted his hand up and gave Leonard the traditional salute.

“Yeah, right,” Leonard snorted as he walked past him and towards the living area.

He heard Jim shut and lock the door behind him. As Leonard walked into the living room he jumped in surprise when Bob hissed at him.

“Damn that cat!” he muttered.

Jim chuckled as he stepped up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder.

“He really doesn’t appreciate your winning ways,” Jim smiled at him.

Leonard sent him a glare over his shoulder and stepped away from Jim and into the room. He shrugged his shoulders to hide his anxiety at Jim touching him.

When there was no response, he turned back to see why Jim was remaining silent.

Jim was standing and looking down at his hand. He looked up, a little crease between his heavy brows.

“It’s not raining outside?” Jim asked.

“Huh?” Leonard replied and then he realized that Jim was rubbing his fingers together of the hand that had recently been resting on his shoulder.

“Oh, Vasily came over just after I had gotten out of the shower,” Leonard ran a hand through his hair, checking to make sure that it was dry. It was.

Jim waved towards the couch. “Sit down,” he invited.

Leonard took the invitation, knowing that they were likely to be here a while. He took the spot on the far end of the couch, sinking down into the soft cushion seat of it.

Jim walked towards him and picked up his jacket that was laying over the back of the couch. He stood with it in his hands for a moment, seemingly unsure as to where to place it. Then he appeared to make a decision and strode off quickly towards his bedroom and tossed the jacket onto his bed.

“Right, what was so urgent that we had to meet?” Jim said as he leaned against the doorway to his bedroom.

Bones looked up from where he could see the jacket lying haphazardly on the corner of the bed. “Come over here and I’ll tell ya. Not interested in shouting across a room,” Leonard told him.

Jim gave a wry twist to his mouth and a little tilt of his head, but then he was moving across the room and sat down on the couch on the opposite end from Leonard. He sat at an angle so that he could face him, arm resting lazily along the arm rest and legs crossed. He looked like a very relaxed sultan surveying his kingdom.

“So, why do I get to miss out on the fun with the others today?” Jim asked.

“As I said, I got a morning visit from our friendly Russian mobster. They insisted that I call you and had to meet you. Today. At this time and pass on a little more useless information that we know is bogus. Then I had to make sure that you stayed with me for the rest of the afternoon,” Leonard said the last bit almost sotto voce and looked away from Jim and towards the cabinet he had along the wall that housed his television and VCR. There also seemed to be some cords hanging out of a drawer that he recognized as belonging to a Nintendo.

“So he doesn’t want me on the raid?” Jim mused.

“Seems so. Are you gonna alert Pike?” Leonard asked.

“We already assumed this was gonna be a trap,” Jim checked his watch. “They would be setting things up right now. Be under radio silence. So can only wait and see.”

“Right,” Leonard said.

He bit his lip and looked around the room a little more. The pair of them sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

“You know you made this worse yesterday,” Jim finally broke the silence.

“What?” Leonard asked as his head snapped around to look toward Jim.

“With your ignoring me at the café. I got nothing but shit from Sulu afterward. I had done a good job of letting him know that nothing happened between us, but no, you had to go and act the part of the offended maiden,” Jim told him.

“Now look here, you infant! I wasn’t the one trying to play footsie under the table,” Leonard growled. He gesticulated with one pointed finger towards Jim to emphasize his annoyance.

“Poke that at me again, and I will bite it!” Jim stated. “And don’t call me infant!”

“Well, excuse me, but threatening to bite off some one’s appendages speaks volumes for someone’s maturity,” Leonard said as he directed a disdainful look towards Jim.

“Yeah, well. This is all your fault anyway,” Jim said as he sat up straighter in his seat and glared right back at Leonard.

“You kissed _me_!” Leonard hissed as he leaned forward towards Jim.

“You were the one who had his mouth on my dick!” Jim responded likewise, leaning forward so that they were now nose to nose. “And you can’t blame me about that, I was in the bathroom when you came in. That was all you!”

“You pushed, kid, and kept pushing. You want to play with fire you’re gonna get burned,” Leonard continued to speak in a lowered, hushed, and angry tone.

“I pushed?” Jim protested. He emphasised the word by bringing a hand up that he had previously braced on the couch to push at Leonard’s chest. “You were the one who kissed back and kept at it! You are older than me and should know better!”

Leonard narrowed his eyes and glared at the hand that had just dared to touch him.

“I done warned you, kid,” Leonard said through gritted teeth.

“Bring it, old man,” Jim dared him.

Leonard contemplated the man in front of him: the narrowed blue eyes, the flush of pink on his cheeks from his anger, and then down to the pursed lips. It was those lips that tempted him and had just dared him.

Leonard moved swiftly to close the gap between them. He raised up both his hands to hold Jim’s face in place as he planted an angry kiss on those lips. Jim drew in a little involuntary breath and before Leonard’s eyes closed, he noted the widening shock in Jim’s. Such a bright, startling blue framed by thick, long, dark lashes.

Jim’s lips softened under his and then the kiss changed as he pressed back, not just with his lips but with his whole body. Leonard found himself being pushed back into the corner of the couch, being thoroughly kissed and with a lap full of Jim.

“Jim,” he moaned when Jim stopped trying to suck his soul out through his tongue. Instead Jim tried his best vampire impression on Leonard’s neck, nipping and licking and sucking at different parts of his skin as it took his fancy. Leonard’s hands had roamed down his back and found Jim’s ass. Right where he expected it to be. As he squeezed and held on, Jim pressed forward and they both groaned.

“Bones,” Jim replied as he lifted his head up to look at Leonard with a heavy lidded gaze.

Leonard glanced down, lowering his lids. “Damn it,” he muttered.

“That’s one way to put it,” Jim chuckled. “What the fuck is it that we can’t keep our hands off each other?”

“Lust, one of the seven deadly sins,” Leonard told him, still keeping his eyes lowered, although this meant that he could see, as well as feel, Jim’s impressive tenting of his pants.

“Understandable. You are fine, even when you haven’t shaved this morning and looking a mess,” Jim said as he moved his hands up to mess Leonard’s hair up even more. “I’ve just never wanted to kiss a man like I do you.”

Jim gripped gently onto Leonard’s hair and titled his head back. Leonard realized he wanted him to look back at him, so with a sigh he opened his eyes up.

“Don’t think you are as straight as you think you are,” Leonard drawled out. “And would you stop calling me that damn ridiculous name?”

Jim pondered the request, looking upwards as he thought upon it with a little wry twist of his lips that then spread into a sly smile. He looked back at Leonard with a decidedly sassy look and said one word. “Nope!”

“You’re incorrigible,” Leonard complained.

“You should feel honored, I don’t nickname just anyone, “ Jim said as he loosened his grip on Leonard’s hair and started to lightly massage his head.

“I heard about Burly. At least you haven’t called me by a pastry name,” Leonard said.

“True, ‘Cupcake’ does suit him, although he has let himself go lately and I might have to rename him ‘Muffin’ instead,” Jim mused.

Leonard just shook his head at Jim and the look of pretend innocence on his face.

“Why did you ever think you were straight?” Leonard replied.

“I’m a Federal Agent!” Jim declared. “We are all manly in our defending of everyone else’s liberties and all that shit.”

“Sulu is a Fed too you know,” Leonard pointed out.

“He’s a fabulous one though,” Jim said.

Leonard dropped his head forward onto Jim’s chest so he could quietly laugh at Jim’s earnestness.

“I think he could kick your ass if he ever heard you say that,” Leonard managed to get out, around his chuckles.

“True,” Jim conceded. “Hey, did you know that one of his hobbies is fencing?”

“Jim, I just met the man and the only interactions I had before that were you two following me everywhere,” Leonard said as he sat back up again. “So, no, I did not know the man fences.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Well... anyway, he fences. I mean that should have given me a clue, eh?” Jim continued.

“Kid, you had no idea I was into men so I think you shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Leonard lectured gently.

“You like chicks too though. I know they are all different. I mean I’ve been out enough with Sulu and his buddies to figure that out,” Jim said.

Leonard let out an involuntary moan when Jim managed to find a particularly sensitive spot on his head.

“Huh?” Jim queried as he stilled his fingers and looked towards them like they had their own mind.

“You’ve been petting my head since you stopped kissing me,” Leonard explained.

“Oh. Yeah. Seems so,” Jim said. “And don’t start on the laying of blame ‘cause see how well that turned out last time. Although you kissed me first.”

Leonard just rolled his eyes at Jim.

“What? You totally did!” Jim defended himself.

“Are we always gonna end up arguing?” Leonard asked.

“Probably. Although we could skip the yelling part and just go to the making up part?” Jim offered.

“Didn’t we both agree this was a bad idea?” Leonard asked.

“Yeah, but then we both ignored it and well, it was, well...pretty good,” Jim said.

“Do you always leap before looking, kid?” Leonard asked.

“Pretty much,” Jim admitted. “It’s even better when I know I have something nice to land on,” Jim continued as he lowered his head so that his lips were brushing Leonard’s.

“Idiot,” Leonard responded.

Then Jim seemed to figure out how best to stop Leonard insulting him.

They necked like teenagers for a while, just learning what the other one liked and what caused the best noises or reactions. Breathing heavily, Leonard leaned his head back onto the couch, Jim’s hands still in his hair. Jim was smiling down at him. He looked so young and carefree in that moment.

“Now what was that about not fucking things up?” Jim asked.

Leonard sighed. “If we let it fuck things up it can fuck things up. So far we have been kinda distracted.”

“Yeah, but it’s a nice distraction,” Jim responded, wriggling a little on Leonard’s lap.

“Stop that!” Leonard ordered him.

Jim in retaliation just wiggled a little more, creating a delicious friction. Leonard smacked him on the ass and then proceed to push him off his lap and back onto the couch.

Jim laughed as he sprawled back along it. “Alright, alright. I’ll keep my hands off, if you keep yours off? Deal?”

Leonard nodded.

Jim straightened himself up on the couch, staying on the middle seat closer to Leonard.

“So,” Jim said, looking around the room. He then burst into laughter when his stomach rumbled.

“Lunch?” he asked Leonard.

“Sure,” Leonard agreed.

Jim jumped up from the couch and started bustling around in his kitchen. Obviously looking for something to eat.

“Do you have anything edible in those cupboards?” Leonard asked.

“Of course I do,” Jim said as he bent down to rummage though the cupboard under his island.

“Anything that isn’t suitable for a cat?” Leonard asked as he looked over towards the dining table where Bob was sitting, tail swishing and glaring at Leonard.

“I have food for me too,” Jim said as he popped his head up so he could glare at Leonard. “Bob can eat anything though.”

“Always hide it right at the back of all the cupboards?” Leonard asked.

“Not looking for food here,” Jim said as he bent back down.

Leonard sent him a puzzled look, but then figured that asking the man what he was doing would mean they would still go round in conversational circles for a while. So Leonard got up and headed over towards the kitchen area, standing on the opposite side of the island to Jim.

“Found it!” Jim proclaimed as he stood up and brandished an appliance towards the couch.

“Right here, Genius,” Leonard pointed out.

“Shit, Bones! Don’t scare a guy when he’s in the kitchen,” Jim said as he placed the appliance down on the bench and plugged it in, turning the switch on.

“Is that a griddle maker?” He asked.

Jim turned towards him with a look of surprise on his face. “You’ve never seen one? Never had grilled cheese?”

“Nope,” Leonard admitted.

“You are in for a treat then! The ‘World Famous Jim Kirk Grilled Cheese’,” Jim grinned at him.

“Well, then. Go on and dazzle me, farm boy, or is standing in the middle of the kitchen part of the service?” Leonard asked as he leaned against the counter top of the island.

Jim poked his tongue out at him and headed over to his fridge. He opened it and Leonard got a good look at what he had inside. It wasn’t that different from his own fridge, a couple of beers, a few staples and not much else. Jim pulled out some butter, sliced cheese and then a small wrapped deli package.

“I was gonna ask if you liked meat but well,” Jim waved down towards his groin with one hand while a sly smirk played upon his face.

“If you persist in bad puns I won’t play hide the salami with you later,” Leonard snapped back.

“How did you guess, Bones?” Jim said as he waved the packet in the air.

“Do not tell me that is salami in there?” Leonard asked.

“Not only are you a doctor, you’re a psychic too!” Jim said as he put it down on the counter.

“Damn it, Jim!” Leonard muttered.

Jim laughed and grabbed two plates and the loaf of bread out of the cupboard before turning back to the Island. He started to prepare the sandwiches, buttering the bread and then putting on the cheese. Bob decided to join them on the island, jumping up with ease and heading straight for the cheese.

“Oh no you don’t,” Leonard said as he grabbed the cat around the middle and tossed him back onto the kitchen table.

“Thanks, Bones,” Jim said as he opened the packet and pulled out a couple of slices of salami and put them in between two slices of cheese. “Trying to fend off Bob can be interesting at times. Figured out early on not to leave a loaf out on the bench. Plastic appears to be something he doesn’t mind chewing through.”

“Anything else I can do?” Leonard asked.

“Nah, all done,” Jim said as he moved over and opened up the maker and put the sandwiches in to cook.

“Beer okay?” he asked. At Leonard’s nod he opened the fridge and pulled out two beers and offered one to Leonard.

Leonard took the beer and opened it.

“Why don’t you go back to the couch. I’ll put the TV on as we might be here a bit,” Jim offered as he started to put the food back in the fridge and the cupboard.

Leonard walked back over and sat back down in the same spot he had earlier vacated. Jim finished up in the kitchen and wandered over to pick up his remote. He turned on the TV, idly flicking through channels trying to find something for them to watch. Nothing seemed to grab his interest, so he left it on the first channel, leaving the sound down low.

“How did you end up being a doctor and a Fed?” Jim asked as he took a sip of his beer.

“Start off with the simple questions, don’t ya?’ Leonard responded.

“Fine, I’ll share and then you can,” Jim offered.

“Kid, that presumes that a, I want to know your life story and b, what are we teenagers?” Leonard responded.

“We could sit here in complete silence waiting for my phone to ring and be told that they found nothing and that the ATF and the DEA hate our guts for pulling them on a wild goose chase on a Sunday, or we could kick back like a couple of friends having a chat,” Jim said.

“Fine,” Leonard grouched. “You tell me yours.”

“Once upon a time there was this incredibly handsome young man...” Jim started.

“Oh for the love of God,” Leonard interjected. “Can you not be serious about anything?”

“Are you able to lighten up or were you born with ‘old man syndrome’?” Jim smiled at him in a way that could only be described as a smirk.

“You are going to tell me some ridiculous story without a grain of truth in it aren’t you?” Leonard asked.

“Bones, you besmirch my honor and the good name of Kirk!” Jim responded.

“I didn’t have to, from what I hear tell, you’ve been doing that well enough on your own!” Leonard replied as he took swig from the bottle in order to hide his own smirk.

“I saw that!” Jim said as he pointed towards Leonard’s mouth. “I got a smile from the grumpy Dr. McCoy! Oh, shit!” Jim exclaimed as he heard a sizzle coming from the kitchen. He bounded up and off towards the griddle to rescue the sandwiches.

Jim brought back two plates, with a sandwich on each and he offered one to Leonard. They ate in silence while the TV quietly played a sitcom in the background.

Leonard leaned forward to place the now empty plate, save for some crumbs, on the low coffee table.

“Not bad, Jim,” he said as he leaned back into the couch, sinking into the cushions.

“See, told you it was good,” Jim said around a mouthful of food.

“Who taught you manners? Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Leonard lectured.

“Yes, Mom,” Jim retorted.

Leonard glared at him.

“See now that’s the Bones I know and love,” Jim smirked as he continued to chew loudly.

“If I talk will that shut you up?” Leonard snapped.

“Maybe, so how did you go from doctor to Fed?” Jim asked.

“Oh for the love of,” Leonard grumbled as he rubbed a hand through his hair. “Pike.”

“You too, huh?” Jim asked.

“I thought you already were in the Omaha Field Office when you got transferred? Causing trouble in Iowa,” Leonard said.

“Oh, Pike was the one who got me to apply for the Academy when I was bumming back in Riverside after college. Had a little altercation with some other fellows he had out on a training course, nothing much,” Jim said as he placed his now empty plate on the coffee table next to Leonard’s.

“Of course it was nothing much,” Leonard muttered.

“Whatever, man,” Jim responded. “Omaha didn’t really suit my investigative style, so Pike was appointed SAC here and he asked for me to transfer. So I did. Thus ends my tale. Your turn now.”

“And to think that tale apparently started with an ‘incredibly handsome young man’,” Leonard said as he took another drink from his beer.

“Stop avoiding and spill,” Jim retorted.

“Fine, okay. I was in my residency when the shit hit the fan on my marriage. I had been approached while at Ole Miss about joining the Feds. My father had worked for them on a consultative basis many years ago and they had apparently had their eye on me. I said no back then ‘cause I saw my life going in a different direction. It didn’t quite end up the way I hoped and Pike got back in touch with me and offered me a job. I had nothing else and it looked attractive. So like you, here I am,” Leonard said,

Jim was frowning as he contemplated something.

“What?” Leonard asked. “You are thinking hard there, kid. That worries me.”

“So you weren’t overseas working for _Médecins Sans Frontières_ that last time? That fits with the time it take to graduate from the Academy,” Jim asked.

“Do you want a medal or a Happy Meal set?” Leonard offered dryly.

“Can’t I have both?”

Leonard closed his eyes and shook his head at Jim’s question. He then opened them quickly when he felt the couch dip slightly. Jim was now sitting right next to him on the couch, legs tucked under himself.

“I thought we agreed to keep our hands to ourselves?” Leonard asked.

“Bones,” Jim cajoled as he leaned forward so that Leonard could feel his breath on his cheek. “Am I touching you with my hands?”

Leonard looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, resolutely keeping his head facing forward. “Don’t trust ya,” he admitted.

Jim smiled and closed the distance so that he could run the tip of his nose up Leonard’s cheek. The sound of the smooth skin of Jim’s nose connecting with the scratchiness of Leonard’s stubble was loud enough to be heard over the TV set.

“What the?” Leonard exclaimed as he moved his head away in shock.

“I still don’t get it,” Jim admitted.

Leonard just looked at Jim a little warily, waiting for him to expand upon his statement.

“See, here you are. A guy,” Jim said as he waved towards Leonard’s body.

“Oh I can see how you aced your biology lessons,” Leonard responded.

“Shut up! I was brilliant at anatomy, particularly on the female form,” Jim proclaimed.

“I bet you thought you were,” Leonard said.

“Hey! I can provide references. Anyway, I’ve only ever been interested in women before. How did you know you were interested in guys? Sulu doesn’t do it for me,” Jim asked.

“Jim, do you want to do her?” Leonard asked as he pointed at the screen.

“Blanche is an awesome woman, but she’s a bit old for me,” Jim replied.

“Not attracted to any of the others there?” Leonard persisted.

“Do you have an old lady fetish I should know about?” Jim looked at him with a hint of concern.

“Just proving a point, Jim. I’m not attracted to every woman or every man. It’s an arbitrary thing and I’d say you are the same. You don’t want to sleep with every woman and up ‘til now you hadn’t been attracted to another man,” Leonard said.

“Hmm,” Jim said as he considered what Leonard had said. He was then saved from answering when there was a phone ring.

Jim quickly got off the couch and headed for his bedroom where Leonard could see him pull a cell phone out from his pocket.

“Kirk here,” he said once he had checked the number and pressed the button to answer the call.

Leonard watched as Jim looked concerned as he listened intently to what he was being told from the other end of the phone.

“What?” he asked, a complete look of shock on his face. “Say that again!”

There was another pause while he listened some more.

“Bullshit!” Jim exclaimed. “Yeah, McCoy’s here with me, I’ll tell him. Sure, see you tomorrow.”

Jim hung up the phone and tossed it back on the bed where it landed on his jacket.

“Damn,” Jim said as he walked back into the room, running a hand through his short hair.

“What?” Leonard asked when he could not hold back his curiosity.

“Novikov didn’t send us on a wild goose chase,” Jim told him as he flopped back down on the couch next to him.

“What?” Leonard repeated.

“It wasn’t a wild goose chase. The information he gave you was correct. Fuck,” Jim breathed out the last word.

“What game is he playing?” Leonard asked.

Jim just shook his head. They both sat there for a while contemplating the change in the game.

“Fuck,” Leonard matched Jim’s final word when he eventually chose to break the silence. “Why did he not want you or possibly Popov there?”

“No idea. The only thing I can think of is that he is protecting you in a way,” Jim responded.

“I’m not sure,” Leonard disagreed. “The man is not dumb. He is obviously playing a deep game that we haven’t cottoned on to yet.”

“From what Sulu said, ATF and DEA are ecstatic. They are both off busy counting the hoard they confiscated. Plus Novikov ratted out a couple of his own guys and there is no way that they can fight the charges. He wanted you and me and Popov away from all the action and he had a reason for it,” Jim said.

“He’s gonna suspect that you will tell me the truth about what happened,” Leonard mused.

“Yup,” Jim agreed.

“Well, I should probably head home,” Leonard said as he started to rise from the couch.

Jim reached over and grabbed him on his wrist. “What are you gonna do when you get there?” he asked.

“What I planned on doing this morning, read a book, just sit around and relax. Maybe watch some TV,” Leonard replied.

“You could do that here,” Jim offered.

Leonard could feel the temperature in the room rise as they looked at each other.

“I could,” Leonard offered, his voice sounding scratchy even to himself.

Jim slowly stood up from the couch and with his spare hand, slid it around so it was resting at the base of Leonard’s spine.

“I’m sure I could be a good host and find something to entertain you with,” Jim said as he tilted his head up slightly.

“You reckon?” Leonard asked.

Jim started to walk backwards carefully, tugging on Leonard’s wrist and pushing with his other hand to make Leonard follow him.

“I reckon so. Might be a good idea to work on that little issue that has been distracting us both a bit.” Jim had rounded the coffee table and was now heading towards his bedroom door.

“Could be a good plan,” Leonard conceded.

“I have the best plans,” Jim announced. “Plus there is an even better reasoning.”

Jim had paused as he reached the doorway and pulled Leonard close so that they were standing body to body.

“What would that be?” Leonard asked.

Jim leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Means Popov has to wait out there even longer.”

Leonard laughed. “That has to one of the most interesting reasons I have ever heard for having sex!”

“Bones, you wound me!” Jim mock innocently proclaimed. “Who said anything about sex?”

Leonard just raised an eyebrow towards him.

“Fine, I meant it, but I didn’t say it! C’mon, I have great plans and the first reason is the best one. We can only let this fuck things up if we let it fuck things up and avoid the fact that the pair of us have been pretty well hard since before lunch. I’m sure you don’t want a case of blue balls to deal with when you get back to your apartment. Particularly if it is bugged. I mean I have already had to jerk off to thoughts of you and would rather the real thing,” Jim said in his normal rapid and quick fire way.

“Real thing, hmm? So would you let me fuck you?” Leonard asked.

Jim considered it. “Maybe.”

Leonard licked his dry and cracked lips. “Would you like to fuck me?”

Jim looked up at him quickly from where his eyes had been focused on Leonard’s lips. Leonard could hear the little indrawn breath that Jim made as he heard what Leonard was offering.

Jim didn’t give him a verbal reply, but if the way he started to kiss Leonard was any indication he seemed to like that offer.

With kisses and moans, hands roaming and clothes shedding they somehow made it to the bed.

There was laughter and adjustments to be made. New touches and places to discover on each other. At times, Jim hesitated and Leonard just waited for him to initiate where they needed to go next. Like he had presumed about Jim’s character, he thought about it quickly, made up his mind and then went full bore towards it.

Leonard had to make Jim slow down when it came to the actual act. He made sure that there was enough lube, even if Jim made inappropriate comments to start off with and then the sight of Leonard prepping his own ass caused him to seemingly lose the power of speech. The initial feeling of the incredible pressure as Jim entered him was something he hoped to not forget soon.

Leonard discovered that Jim expressed himself though kisses. His legs got bent right back close to his body while Jim leaned forward to kiss and bite gently at him. When he could feel that Jim was close, he got his hand involved on his own dick to help himself along. That was the final straw and Jim was coming, groaning his ridiculous nickname. As Jim tried desperately not to fall forward while the aftershocks of his orgasm were wracking his body, Leonard worked quicker and quicker on himself and with a final groan he joined Jim with an orgasm.

Later they lay, dozing on the bed together. Sheets were messed up, around and over them. They were both sticky and Jim pulled off the condom and tied it before dropping it on the floor.

How long they dozed, Leonard was unsure, but there was the sound of the news on the TV and the light had definitely faded to dusk. Jim was pressed up close to him, head on his chest and shoulder, arm draped across him and one leg over his. The rough hair of Jim’s leg was rubbing against him as Jim moved a little in his sleep. Leonard smiled sleepily down at Jim. He wouldn’t need to see his references, the kid could back up his mouth with his actions. Although his mouth was kinda good too.

“Jim,” he quietly said as he rubbed a hand up and down Jim’s arm, trying to gently wake him.

“Wuh? Another couple of minutes,” Jim mumbled.

“Jim, it’s late. I should be heading home,” Leonard said as he pressed a kiss onto Jim’s head. He could still smell the dried sweat in his hair.

Jim blinked up at him blearily. He then yawned.

“Late?” he queried. “Oh, fuck. It is.”

Jim lifted his arm up to rub at his eyes. Another yawn was needed and then he was smiling at Leonard.

“Wore you out good, huh?”

“Wasn’t just me, kid,” Leonard smiled back at him.

“Hmm, maybe,” Jim agreed as he moved up Leonard’s body so that he could kiss him again.

“You really like kisses, dontcha?” Leonard asked when they finally parted.

“Like kissing you,” Jim admitted. “It’s bit different from girls. Although I totally get the complaints about the beard rash.”

Leonard laughed quietly at the perturbed look on Jim’s face. “Got a taste of your own medicine, eh?”

“You’re one to talk,” Jim retorted. He then rubbed his rough cheeks back and forth over Leonard’s chest. “I’m nowhere near as stubbly as you today. At least I managed a shave!”

“Stop that!” Leonard cried as he tried to hold back laughter from the tickling sensation. He pushed at Jim’s shoulders to get him up and off of him.

Jim laughed too as he allowed Leonard to push him away. He rolled onto his back and raised his arms up so that he could cradle his head in his hands.

Leonard tore his eyes away from the flex of Jim’s biceps and glanced back down at himself, noting the dried residue from their earlier activities.

“Ugh,” he said as he idly flicked at a dried speck.

“You can use the shower if you want,” Jim offered.

Leonard flicked a glance towards Jim. “You sure?”

“Wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t and I’ll be a good boy and not offer to join you,” Jim said as he stared up at his ceiling.

Leonard snorted.

“Hey, give me kudos for that. If I do what I really want, you won’t be leaving here tonight,” Jim stated as he kept staring upwards.

Leonard opened his mouth to give some smart retort, but thought better of it when he realized that Jim was trying to not push and give him space. It was the thought that he was seriously considering Jim’s offer that had him rolling out of the bed and heading towards the bathroom. He had spent a nice time with Jim, just hanging around and the sex was, well, the kid’s head was already swelled enough so Leonard didn’t want to finish off that thought.

“Towels?” he asked as he walked into the bathroom.

“There’s a dry one on the rack, the one over the shower I used this morning,” Jim told him.

Leonard shut the door and stepped into the shower stall.

He washed himself quickly under the warm spray. It should have felt odd to wash using someone else’s toiletries but for some reason that he didn’t want to ponder it in too much depth. It felt okay to be using Jim’s soap and shampoo. With a towel wrapped around his waist, after a cursory drying off while he stood on the bath mat, he stepped out into the bedroom. Jim was nowhere to be seen, but Leonard’s clothes were folded neatly over the end of the bed that was mostly made back into the state it was before the two of them messed it up.

He dressed and then went in search of Jim. As he walked back into the living space, there was a flash of a ginger tail as Bob took himself out of the window.

“Hey Bones, I get the feeling Bob doesn’t approve of you,” Jim said from where he was leaning back against the counter in the kitchen. He had found an Academy sweatshirt and some tracksuit pants that had seen better days to put on while Leonard had been showering.

“I do worry about you and that cat. First time I meet him he gives me the evil eye, this time he avoids me. If I didn’t know better I think he might almost be like an over-protective parent,” Leonard said as he walked toward Jim.

“Yeah, well,” Jim said as he waved his hand towards where the cat had been. “I think he’s just jealous.”

“Yeah?” Leonard asked.

“Yeah,” Jim responded as he stepped towards Leonard, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling their bodies together. “Bones, I like you smelling like me,” Jim murmured as he rubbed his nose along Leonard’s cheek.

“Kid, I smelt even more like you before I had a shower,” Leonard groaned as Jim started sucking the skin of his neck, using his teeth to nip gently every so often.

“Shut up, Bones,” Jim said as he lifted his head and sucked Leonard’s lower lip into his mouth.

Leonard did shut up as he was a little preoccupied with his mouth again.

All of a sudden Jim let go and pushed him away. Leonard looked at him confusedly.

“You need to go, man. Otherwise I’m dragging you back in there,” Jim said as he pointed towards the bedroom.

Leonard took a deep breath and nodded slowly, dropping his head down as he tried to compose himself. “Yeah, I should.” He looked back up at Jim. “Really, should be going.”

Jim just bit his lip as he stood away from Leonard, the tension evident in his shoulders.

“Right, going,” Leonard said as he turned and headed for the front door. He could hear Jim following closely behind him.

As Leonard reached the front door, Jim’s arm reached around him to start undoing all his security measures, chain and the dead bolt.

“Well,” Leonard started to say his farewells.

“I’ll walk you down, check on our friendly Russian,” Jim said as he stepped back and collected his keys from the bowl.

Leonard didn’t trust his voice so he just nodded again and waited for Jim to open the door. They walked in silence towards the stairs. The general hum of people living their own lives could be heard. Leonard stopped when he reached the stairwell and turned back towards Jim, who was following close behind.

“It’ll be odd if you guys don’t try and send me in to meet with Vasily at some stage without a wire on, especially now,” he said quietly.

Jim nodded. “I’ll mention to Pike tomorrow that we discussed it.”

“Good,” Leonard told him. “I’ll arrange a meeting with Vasily tomorrow morning, to express my fears about the information he is passing on to me and that you guys want me to wear a wire. If I tip him off about it, that should work in our favor to try and figure out just what the hell he is up to.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the best place to discuss it,” Jim told him.

Leonard nodded. “I just had the thought is all.”

“It’s a good thought, now you have to get home,” Jim pointed down the stairs.

Leonard turned and headed down them, taking Jim’s advice. The pair of them walked in silence once again.

He reached the outer door and pushed it open, stepping out into the cool night. Leonard shivered slightly at the contact of the air on his bare skin. He could see a little way down the street that Popov had found a closer space for his car and was sitting inside it, watching the door to Jim’s building. Leonard turned back to say goodbye to Jim, who was standing and holding the door open with one arm.

“Well, seems he did wait around all this time,” Leonard said quietly.

“I reckon we should give him something to report since he’s waited oh so patiently,” Jim smiled at him.

Before Leonard could fully parse Jim’s meaning, Jim had grabbed his t-shirt, pulled him close, and proceeded to give Popov an eyeful of his kissing talent.

Leonard leaned in, a needy noise coming from the back of his throat as Jim’s talented tongue worked it’s heady magic on him. He could feel the temperature of his skin rise again and the thought did cross his mind that he could stay a little longer. His dick was agreeing very much with that idea. Two years of nothing but his own hand for company and it was eager to get to know Jim some more.

“Fuck. Bones,” Jim said as he rested his forehead on Leonard’s. “Go now. Really, go now or so help me...”

Leonard could feel that he was worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. Jim really was temptation incarnate for him.

He stepped back and then, as he felt the step under his heel, he turned and quickly jogged down the steps and away from Jim, heading towards his car and his own troubled thoughts to be worked over with a quiet glass of bourbon in the still of his own apartment.


	6. Part Six

Leonard pulled the collar of his jacket up higher on his neck to protect him from the chill of the morning. He had spent an evening thinking things over, pondering Jim and, more importantly, Vasily Novikov and his games. He woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so he got up, showered, dressed, and called Vasily on his private number. That brought him where he was, like some spy in a cheap sixties TV show, waiting for a mysterious Russian in the early hours of dawn in a park.

He stretched his legs out in front of him onto the pavement that was colored dark gray from the layer of fog that the city was famous for. Luckily, throughout most of this spring it had stayed away, allowing the days to be pleasantly not too warm and not too cool. Leonard resolutely disregarded the idea that he was Goldilocks. Waiting for someone in the early hours did have a way of making a man’s mind wander in odd directions.

One thing he had noticed was that he hadn’t been followed by Popov. At least he knew that the man did, at some stage, have a home and his own bed to go to. He heard a car engine slowing down, so he looked over at the side of the park toward the sound. Driving past, at a sedate pace, was a silver Mercedes that he recognised as Vasily’s. It stopped by the path that led toward him and Lebedev got out of the drivers side while the passenger side back door opened and Vasily exited. They had stopped in a spot that Leonard knew was a no parking zone. The local cops knew his car though and had learned to turn a blind eye to where it, or more importantly Lebedev, decided to park it.

Vasily was striding toward him, hands in his pockets and head up, looking straight at Leonard. Lebedev was the one trailing behind and glancing around to see if they were likely to be observed.

“Leonard!” Vasily greeted him as he got close enough. Leonard rose off the bench to stand and wait for Vasily to join him.

Vasily held out his arms as he reached Leonard, he then leaned forward to press a kiss to each cheek in the traditional greeting. Leonard indicated the bench behind him and they both sat down. Lebedev stayed a discrete distance away, scanning the park.

“Now, what has you so upset, dear Leonard?” Vasily asked straight off the bat as he turned to face him. Vasily had his legs crossed over and one hand rested above a knee, the expensive gold of his gaudy rings flashing in the early morning light, in marked contrast to his plump pale fingers and the dark wool of his long coat.

Leonard took a deep breath before speaking. “I did as you asked and met Agent Kirk at his apartment,” Leonard started to say, pausing as he consider how next to word what he wanted to say.

“Agent Kirk sounds so formal. I think you are closer to him now than ‘Agent Kirk’ warrants. I hope you are anyway. Did you call him that all yesterday afternoon?” Vasily asked.

“Jim,” Leonard admitted.

“Now Jim is a much better name,” Vasily proclaimed as he slapped him on the shoulder. “I hope you had a pleasant afternoon?”

“It was alright,” Leonard shrugged as he looked out across the park. “Jim got an interesting phone call though, just after lunch.”

“He did? Did he share the contents of it with you?” Vasily leaned forward slightly to bring himself back into Leonard’s peripheral vision. This was not a man who liked being ignored.

“He did,” Leonard told him, finally glancing back to look at Vasily and see what he could discover on that face. The man had been head of his organization for years and Leonard doubted he would show any hint as to what he was really thinking. Sure enough, that was the case now.

Vasily just waited in silence for Leonard to continue. It was an effective weapon in an interrogation, let the one doing the talking get nervous and start babbling away, trying to come up with whatever they thought the other person wanted to hear. Leonard had training from the Academy though, and started to put in place all that he had learned there as well as the little bit from his previous life as a doctor. Some patients were prone to lie more than tell the truth to their physician.

“First though, I have a question for you,” Leonard said.

“You do?” Vasily asked, a little flicker of his eye line toward Lebedev gave Leonard a clue that this was an unexpected development.

“Why did you rat out those boys?” Leonard asked as he watched Vasily intently.

“Ah, Agent Kirk did indeed talk to you,” Vasily said as he leaned back onto the bench again. “I know you are an honest and plain speaking man, Leonard, and this I very much approve of in you. Sometimes the world is not black and white and sometimes there are different rules. When those rules are stepped out of though, there needs to be consequences. No one is outside of the rules, are they Leonard?” Vasily asked.

“No, sir, they are not,” Leonard agreed. “The world would be anarchy without law.”

“You are a very perceptive man, Leonard,” Vasily told him.

Leonard recognized the observation with a tilt of his head.

“You are also a loyal man, but I did not want you hurt. Sometimes we have to do things that we might not necessarily agree with in our heart of hearts but they must be done. Agent Kirk is just doing his job, very diligently, in keeping an eye on you. I am pleased that you have someone as concerned about your welfare and looking out for you,” Vasily continued.

“Well, they are concerned for the information. They have suggested a wire and I wanted to give you a heads up on it,” Leonard said.

“Thank you, Leonard, that is very considerate. Did you give them an answer?” Vasily asked.

“I said I would like to think on it overnight and would call them today,” Leonard told him.

“Call Agent Kirk today and tell him you agree. If they are clever, they will want you to wear it today to meet with me. Come see me later at the café. Tap your nose twice if you are wearing it when you do so,” Vasily instructed.

“Ok,” Leonard agreed, privately thinking that tapping noses was the height of stupidity and would make him feel like he was in some ridiculous ‘Get Smart’ re-run.

Vasily stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. Leonard looked up at him in response.

“You are a good man, Leonard. You are doing very well. Agent Kirk is a handsome man. I am very pleased at the developments.” At that, Vasily patted him goodbye on the shoulder and was then walking swiftly off back to his car, Lebedev ahead of him, anticipating Vasily like always.

***

Jim leaned back on the bed of the motel room while he waited for Bones to arrive. Sometime over the weekend, the man had stopped being Leonard and became Bones to him, fully, in his head. Partly, Jim mused, it was to piss Bones off, but also it might have something to do with this man being different.

Jim crossed his legs at his ankles as he listened to Pavel and Scotty fiddle with the equipment. It was on the small table that had previously housed an old tv set, which was now on the floor, with the free space being occupied with various wires and small boxes.

Sulu was seated on a chair in the far corner by the window. The curtains had been drawn but from where Sulu was, he would be able to observe anyone knocking on the door first. This left Jim to lounge back on the bed and wait for Bones to turn up, shifting slightly every so often as the springs dug into his back and legs through the thin mattress.

They had asked Pike if they were going to let Pavel and Scotty in on the fact that Bones was a Fed. The answer had been a no, they had to maintain the façade that Bones was just an informant. So that left him where he was, lying on a bed in a cheap motel room that had seen better days and was last decorated in the seventies, but at least it was mostly clean.

They remained this way for a while longer. Jim resisted the urge to check his watch, knowing that would make the wait worse. Most people thought that the life of a Fed was excitement and danger, while Jim knew better. It was mostly waiting and watching and listening followed sometimes by a short flurry of action and adrenaline.

At a knock on the door, Jim glanced toward Sulu, who nodded back at him as he got up from the chair to open it. Jim moved across the bed so that he was sitting on the side as he got his first view of Bones waiting outside the motel room.

“Dr. McCoy,” Sulu greeted him as he proceeded to open the door just enough so that Bones could enter.

“Agent Sulu, Kirk,” Bones returned the greeting, taking his cue from Sulu’s behavior.

Jim rose off the bed to step up close to Bones. Sulu had quietly shut the door, enclosing them all in the small room where only the soft glow from the florescent light bulb gave them any illumination to see by.

“Thank you for agreeing to this Dr. McCoy,” Jim said. “These two men will be putting the wire on you as we agreed,” Jim pointed toward Scotty and Pavel.

Bones nodded at him and then started to take his suit jacket off. Jim could feel his breath hitch at the idea of Bones getting slowly undressed in front of him. Yesterday, they had both been quick to get naked and neither of them were inclined to stop and pause to take the time to just look. Jim stepped away from Bones, knowing that it would be best to put some distance and try and remain professional in front of the others. He sat back down on the bed, allowing what little space there was for Scotty and Pavel to get to work. Sulu had retreated back to his chair.

The room became devoid of conversation apart from Scotty and Pavel’s instructions to each other and then occasionally to Bones about where best to hide the wire. Jim watched intently as Bones loosened his tie and pulled his shirt out from his pants. There was a flash of belly, tanned skin, and a hint of fine dark hair.

Jim then decided that it might be best to watch Pavel over by the bench as he fussed with the equipment, instead of Bones slowly undoing his shirt buttons from the bottom up. The room was too small for this to be successful though and short of retreating to the bathroom, he had the vision of Bones stripping and revealing a tanned and nicely muscled stomach. There was something about a slow reveal of flesh that made everything a little more heady.

Sulu started talking to Bones about how he should act, that he should try and stick as close to his normal behavior so as not to trigger any suspicion from Novikov and the others. They had been talking freely in front of him before so all they needed was some recordings to help them with their case in order to prosecute. Bones nodded at each suggestion, occasionally offering back his own questions, completely immersed in his role as a rat. Jim could see why Pike had such faith in Bones; the man was good.

Scotty apologized at where they had to place the tape to hide the mic. Bones was going to lose some hair off his chest, and not in a nice way, when the tape got removed.

Jim tried desperately not to allow his mind to wander to where the cord of the tiny transmitter ran down Bones’ chest and into the top of his pants.

“Right, all done,” Scotty announced as he stood back to admire his handiwork. “Just need to check the receiver in the van.”

Pavel had been packing up the equipment and now stood with his normal eager smile. Jim was surprised that he wasn’t bouncing up and down on his toes.

“I’ll finish debriefing Bones,” Jim said as he rose off the bed.

Bones flicked a glance up at him as he paused in doing up his buttons.

“Bones?” Scotty asked as Jim mentally kicked himself.

“Don’t ask,” Sulu said as he threw an annoyed look Jim’s way. “Just Jim’s need to nickname everything coming through there. Poor Dr. McCoy here hasn’t escaped from it.”

Sulu shepherded the other two out of the room. Once the door was closed and Bones was still doing up his buttons, Jim stepped up and raised a hand to lift up Bones’ chin.

When Bones opened his mouth to say something, Jim placed a finger over his lips to shush him before removing it and quickly leaning forward to press a kiss. He ran his hand down Bones’ chest until he reached the bottom of his shirt and he fingered it out of the way so that he could run his fingers over the warm skin that had been teasing him. Bones reacted to the kiss like he had the day before, with a full body press and a tight grip on Jim.

Jim had only meant a quick kiss, but it turned dirty very fast.

“Jim?” Bones asked confusedly as Jim broke off from the kiss.

Jim lifted his hand back up to cover his lips with one finger again. He shook his head at Bones to attempt to keep him quiet. “Just had to,” Jim whispered.

Bones gave him one of his looks, and this one told Jim that he wasn’t that impressed with his reasoning and that there might be words later. Jim didn’t mind that idea, as most of their arguments so far had ended up in bed with some pretty spectacular sex. Now he had to get his mind back on the job and yeah, so the fault was all his to start off with, but Bones was the one who had partially stripped in front of him.

“We will set up the van a block away from the café,” Jim told him. “When you exit, come back to us. If you think you are being followed at any stage though, keep going past the van and head back to your normal routine. We will find a way to contact you if that occurs, okay?”

“Sure,” Bones drawled.

“Good luck. You’ll be fine,” Jim assured him.

Bones tucked his shirt back in, tightened up his tie, and collected his jacket. Jim was waiting for him by the door to the room before they both exited.

Jim followed Bones down the stairs from the first floor room they had been in. The van was where they had parked it when Scotty had rented the room, and Jim spotted Bones’ car across the road.

Bones was stepping quickly down the stairs, his jacket back on and hiding the wire. At the base of the stairs Bones, without looking back, continued heading toward his car. Jim turned off to the side and headed toward the van. He climbed in the back, where Scotty and Sulu were already seated. Sulu tapped on the divider and Jim heard Pavel start up the van.

They all sat tight and quiet in the back while Pavel drove them toward their pre-arranged set up point. Jim could feel Sulu’s questioning eyes on him but he made sure to just focus on the equipment that Scotty was still fiddling with every so often.

Finally, Pavel got them to their destination and parked. He joined them in the back and put on a set of headphones as he sat on the little stool next to Scotty, who handed Jim and Sulu a set of their own.

Now began one of those long waiting times that was the life of a Federal Agent. They could hear the hum of Leonard’s car through the mic, then the sound of it slowing down and stopping. Jim could visualize what was happening from the sounds that followed. Bones got out of his car, crossed a street and walked along a sidewalk a ways. He then entered what must have been the café, which was filled with the noise of a myriad games played by the old Russian men who regularly filled the front of the establishment. The chatter was loud, but luckily it didn’t last long as there were some clicking sounds and then the voices faded into the background. Bones had obviously entered another room. There was such a change in the noise that it was almost as if it was silence, but as Jim dropped his head down and closed his eyes to better listen in, he could hear quiet noises in the background. A chair scraping along the floor, the click of a glass onto a table and then a door opening.

“Leonard,” they heard a voice greet Bones. “How nice to see you.” The voice got louder as the man spoke so it was obvious that Bones was moving closer to the speaker.

Jim suspected that the voice was Novikov’s but they would need proof on the recording of a name. There was a short pause of silence that had Jim looking worriedly up at Sulu, who had also happened to glance toward him. Then the voice spoke again.

“Thank you, Ilia. You can wait outside, I need to speak to my doctor,” the voice said. As the door opened again and then closed, they waited to hear more.

“Mr. Novikov,” Bones said.

“Please, Leonard, I have told you, call me Vasily. There should be openness between a man and his doctor,” Vasily Novikov said.

Jim mouthed “bingo” toward Sulu who had a smile on his face. They had their first bit of proof, now it was up to Bones to get them some valuable information.

“Vasily,” Bones replied.

“Now, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Novikov asked. “I understand you are a little concerned?”

“I know you value honesty, so I shall get right to it,” Bones stated. “I heard about what happened to Ivanov and Volkov.”

“Ah, yes,” Novikov mused. “As you and I have discussed, there are rules to follow. When people break those rules, there are consequences.”

“Aren’t you concerned about them? I know you are close to their families,” Bones said.

“You, as a doctor, should know very well, Leonard, that drugs are never pleasant. People who get involved in those things should be very careful,” Novikov said.

Jim looked in shock toward Sulu. Novikov was literally admitting on tape deliberately that he ratted out his own minions. Jim could only hope that Bones was carefully maintaining his own expression better than he or Sulu were. Bones had set this up with the full knowledge of Novikov and the man knew that Bones was wired up yet he was happily saying what he had done. Although he was cleverly not implicating himself in anything illegal.

Their amazement continued as Novikov expanded even further on what his minions had been up to and what bad men they were to be involved in the drug system. He dug even deeper holes for some other lower level associates, giving more information for Jim and Sulu to chase down. As Jim suspected, there was a game going on here and he wasn’t sure what the rules were.

Eventually Novikov dismissed Bones and they pulled their headsets off after they heard Bones leave the café and head toward his car. Scotty kept his on as he continued to monitor the recording.

Jim rubbed his hair where the headset had been pressing into his scalp.

“He just gave us a complete goldmine,” Sulu said, the shock in his voice quite evident.

“If the cartel ever finds out it was him that stopped one of their main supply routes, I don’t know what will happen but it won’t be pretty,” Jim said.

“There was about six or seven solid new leads there. We are gonna be busy chasing all that information down,” Sulu mused.

“DEA is going to want to get their hands on that tape,” Jim observed.

“Not until we let Pike hear it,” Sulu pointed out.

“Always,” Jim agreed.

Their little debriefing was interrupted with a knock on the back of the van. Jim got up to look out through the back window and saw Bones standing there. He opened the door and motioned Bones in.

Jim noted the tense lines around Bones’ mouth. The conversation with Novikov had worried him as much as it had worried Jim and Sulu it seemed.

“Did you get what you wanted?” Bones asked.

“I would say we got what we wanted and more,” Sulu replied.

Scotty had finally stopped the tapes from recording and stood up to assist Bones in removing the wire. In a mirror of earlier events, Jim stood back in the small space to allow Scotty to work on Bones. This time Jim made sure to look away from him, although his imagination kept trying to draw him back into the memory of the little flashes of skin and long nimble fingers undoing buttons. There would be no hiding in the van, no way they could be alone.

Once the wire and mic was removed, Sulu stepped forward to offer his hand toward Bones.

“Thank you very much Dr. McCoy. The Federal Bureau of Investigations appreciates the risk you have just taken for us. The information will prove invaluable,” Sulu said as he shook his hand.

“My pleasure and I’m only doing what any concerned citizen would,” Leonard said, laying on his accent thick for his role.

“Well, we do thank you,” Jim said, not wanting to be left out of the little ‘performance’ they were giving.

“I’ll be on my way,” Bones said as he picked up his jacket and finished tucking his shirt back in.

“We will be in contact if we have further need of you. In the meantime you still have my card?” Jim asked.

Bones nodded.

“If you have any need, don’t hesitate to call, at any time. Day or night,” Jim told Bones.

There was a little flicker of something in Bones’ eyes and Jim hoped it was a promise for later.

“I will surely do that,” Bones said before turning back to the door and exiting the van.

Sulu told Pavel to drive them back to headquarters. Jim sat back down to parse all the new information they had received and the more curious conundrum of Bones.

***

It was a whole night and another morning later when Jim decided that enough was enough.

Bones hadn’t been in contact and Jim was a little worried. Sulu might have been shooting him looks as well, while they were slowly going through all the new leads they had received from the recording. Sulu was also possibly at the stage of about to throw something at Jim, so he took proactive action and headed out for lunch. Most of the information had been sorted and devolved off to the right areas. He told Sulu he was heading out and would be back later.

“If you are going to see McCoy-,” Sulu started to say with a hint of warning in his tone.

“What?” Jim responded. “We haven’t heard from him since yesterday. If we don’t do a follow up, the Russians are going to wonder. The whole aim of this, Pike said, was to be visible, so I plan on being visible.”

“Be careful, they probably have him bugged,” Sulu warned. The look on his face told Jim that he wasn’t happy but wasn’t going to say too much while in the middle of the office. Jim knew when and where to pick his battles.

“I know. I will. Call me on the cell if you need me,” Jim said.

This was how he found himself outside the small local practice with Bones’ name on the door. The windows had thin horizontal blinds on them, mostly closed so that in order to see in, you had to peer very closely to the window. People on the inside could see out a bit better though. The paint job on the outside was well worn but at least clean. Jim turned the door handle and walked in.

There was an attractive blonde woman behind the reception desk that Jim knew was Christine Chapel, Bones’ nurse/receptionist. A background check had been run on her, but she had no links to the Russians. She just appeared to be like Bones, someone who had left their home state looking for something new in San Francisco. Maybe a little like his own self, really. She looked up at his entrance. There was a wary expression on her face, so Jim smiled even more brilliantly.

“Hi, is Bones, I mean, Dr. McCoy in?” Jim asked.

“I’m sorry Dr. McCoy got called away on an emergency. We canceled all his appointments for the day,” Christine told him.

There was a little look of mistrust on her face to accompany her discomfort or possibly even a little bit of fear, Jim thought, so he decided to make his presence very obvious. He pushed his jacket back as he placed his hands on his hips. This made his badge, that he had attached to the top of his pants, come into plain sight. He noticed Christine’s eyes flicker straight toward it.

“You know Dr. McCoy how?” Christine asked.

“We’re friends. I was gonna see if he wanted some lunch. I’ll just wait around a bit to see if he comes back, if that’s alright?” Jim smiled at her some more.

“I’m not too sure how long he will be. It might be a considerable time before he comes back,” she warned.

“That’s okay, I’m on my lunch break. I’ve got some time to waste,” Jim said as he walked over to one of the uncomfortable looking chairs by the far corner.

There was a little side table with a box of toys underneath it and a stack of magazines well past their use by date on the top. He picked up one of the less dog eared ones and started to flick through it. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Christine fussing around on her desk, throwing an occasional glance his way. Her movements were in line with someone trying to look busy while not actually doing a lot in reality.

“How did you say you know Dr. McCoy?” Christine broke the silence.

“I didn’t, but I’m Jim, Jim Kirk,” he introduced himself.

“Can’t say that he has mentioned you before,” Christine replied.

“Well, I’m just gonna have to have some words with Bones over that,” Jim responded.

“‘Bones’?” she asked with a confused wrinkle of her nose.

“Sorry, just a nickname I call him. You know, Doctor, Sawbones, Bones,” Jim explained. “Suits him better than Leonard.”

“I like Leonard,” Christine told him. “So how did you two meet?”

“Just through the course of some inquiries I had,” Jim said.

“Oh,” Christine pondered that information. “He’s not in trouble is he?” she then asked with a worried look on her face.

“Not that I know of,” Jim replied.

Christine went back to worrying the end of her ballpoint pen with her teeth, showing that she was nervous about something.

“I saw your badge,” she said.

Jim stood up and pulled his badge off as he walked back over toward her. “Special Agent James T. Kirk, Federal Bureau of Investigations, San Francisco Office at your service,” he told her. He opened up his ID to show it to her. She leaned forward to stare at it intently, then look up at him, obviously comparing the picture to him. Jim resisted the urge to put the badge next to his face and grin broadly for her.

Christine nodded, obviously accepting that he was who he said he was.

“You really are friends with Leonard?” she asked.

Jim leaned up against the counter of the reception desk. “Do you think he might be in trouble?” he asked her.

Christine raised worried eyes toward him. “Do you know who Vasily Novikov is?”

“Yes, I do,” Jim replied. “Did the ‘emergency’ involve Mr. Novikov?”

Christine nodded her head. “He came in earlier, talked to Leonard for a couple of minutes in his office and then they left and Leonard told me to cancel all his afternoon appointments.”

“Thank you for telling me, Christine,” Jim said.

She looked up at him in surprise.

“He might not have talked about me, but he has mentioned you,” Jim told her. “I’ll be back. I just want to call my partner, okay?”

Jim started to walk toward the front door, wanting to make the phone call back to the office from outside.

“Agent Kirk,” Christine called after him.

“Yes?” Jim asked.

“He did take his bag with him,” Christine said.

Jim looked at her.

“He took his medical bag. He only takes that when he is off to treat someone,” Christine told him.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Jim reassured her before he opened the door and stepped outside.

He pulled his phone out as he walked a little way down the street. He dialled up Sulu’s extension and waited for his partner to pick up the phone.

“Hikaru Sulu, Federal Bureau of Investigations,” Sulu said as he answered.

“Sulu, Jim here. I’m gonna be a little longer than expected,” Jim said.

“Jim, Pike will kick your ass,” Sulu hissed into the phone.

“No he won’t,” Jim replied. “Look, Bones isn’t here. I just talked to Christine Chapel, his nurse, remember? Novikov came by earlier, talked to Bones and then they left together, with Bones taking his medical bag with him. Miss Chapel appears a little unnerved by the situation so I’m going to stay here for a bit and hopefully Bones will be back soon.”

“Shit,” Sulu said.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly. There is a game going here without any rules still,” Jim agreed. “Seriously, how can you win when you are playing blindfolded, in the dark and after being spun around a couple of times?”

“I’ll put some feelers out to the locals, they tend to keep a bit of an eye on the Russians, although they smartly keep out of their way. See if anyone has spotted that big Merc of Novikov’s,” Sulu said.

“Thanks, call me if you hear anything. I have to go try and cheer up a lovely blonde. Wish me luck!” Jim replied.

“Jim, if I didn’t know you better I would say that woman is in trouble, but your attention is definitely elsewhere lately,” Sulu said.

“Hey, I’m still Jim Kirk!” Jim protested as he started to walk back to the office.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s you alright. Boldly going where no man or woman has gone before,” Sulu grumbled. “Later.”

Sulu hung up and Jim shook his head at his phone, the dial tone loud even over the noise of the street. He walked back into the office.

“Any news?” Christine asked right off the bat.

“I’ve got my partner asking some questions, but I’m sure it will be all okay,” Jim reassured her. “Look, it’s okay if I wait around here still?”

“Sure,” she agreed. “And thank you for asking around. I just worry about him is all. He has a good heart under his gruff exterior.”

“He does,” Jim nodded. “One of the things I like best about him.”

“Oh shoot,” Christine said as she quickly stood up from her seat.

Jim looked at her and then toward the window where her attention was. Kirill Popov was walking across the street.

Christine rushed over to open up the door to an office that Jim assumed was Bones’. Sure enough when she opened the door it looked like a doctor’s office.

“Can you wait in here? There is a man coming who works for the Russians and I really don’t think it would be a good idea for him to see you,” she said.

“Sure. Just let me know when it’s safe to come out,” Jim agreed as he walked into the office.

She shut the door securely behind him, so Jim wandered over toward Bones’ desk and ran his finger along the cheap gray melamine. He could hear voices outside the office, so he quietly sat down onto Bones’ chair, slowly taking in all the bits and pieces of the room.

As he listened to the voices outside the door, he had to hold in a chuckle as he realized that Christine was giving short and sharpish answers to Popov, who appeared to be flirting with her regardless of her showing that his intentions were not appreciated. Popov was a braver man than he, Jim mused.

He sat back in the surprisingly comfortable chair, prepared for the long haul of a waiting game and the hope that Bones was just called out to treat one of Novikov’s men who had gotten injured somehow. That it wasn’t anything more sinister than that.

***

Leonard waited while the thermometer did its job. He could hear Vasily and the group’s spokesperson talking off to the side. It was Russian as far as he could tell. There was definite animation between the two of them as they spoke. He tried to remember the name of the man, Ay-eel or it might have been Ayel. Vasily appeared a little more respectful than Leonard had ever seen him be while speaking to someone else. He might even have been inclined to think that there could be fear involved, if the idea was not so preposterous.

There was another man in the far shadows. All Leonard saw of him was his piercing eyes and the rough outline of his shape before Ayel approached Vasily and shook his hand. Leonard had been directed over to a small pile of blankets on the ground where there was a man huddled underneath them, shivering.

The man spoke no English, had a very gaunt appearance and was obviously sick but with what, Leonard had no clue. There was lots of conflicting symptoms and he would ideally want to get him to a hospital, but by the look of the group, they were in hiding.

The warehouse was smaller than the others that Vasily owned and ran. The lights had been kept off apart from a single bulb swinging slowly above the kitchen area. Leonard noted a small burner that was placed on the counter and a dirty looking kettle that had seen much better days.

Leonard suspected they had only been here a day or two at the most, and by the look and sound of them, had arrived into the country by not so legal means. Which meant that the infection’s origins were not from this country.

“Mr. Novikov,” Leonard said as he pulled the thermometer out to check the reading. Sure enough the man was running a fever, a very high fever.

“Yes, Leonard?” Vasily asked as he turned away from Ayel.

“I need to know where these people have been,” Leonard said, trying to impart with his tone that it was important information.

“Doctor, Mr. Novikov assured us you were a competent one. Please see to our friend,” Ayel interjected authoritatively.

“I _am_ a competent doctor,” Leonard said as he stood up and walked toward Ayel, bristling at the order he had been given. “This man needs a hospital!”

“You will see to this man, here and now,” Ayel calmly responded. His eyes cool and calm in the face of Leonard’s obvious displeasure.

“I can’t see to this man here and now, and don’t you interrupt me,” Leonard held up a warning finger. “I’m the one with the medical degree and I say this man needs a hospital. I need to run tests and he needs some serious seeing to. But what I really need to know is where he came from as that can help me figure out what in the hell is wrong with him.” Leonard had made it to stand in front of Ayel as he finished his tirade.

“Leonard,” Vasily put a hand on his arm in warning.

“This man is sick with God knows what but I suspect it is a highly contagious virus. He is running with a fever so high that would normally have me sending any of my other patients to a hospital immediately. You want me to do my job; then I need to know all the facts. He can’t tell me anything and those that can, won’t, so I’m doing my best here,” Leonard told him.

There was some words spoken in a quiet but gravelly voice that came from the direction of the shadowed man. Ayel had turned as soon as the voice was heard. He hissed something back, whereupon there was a bark of an instruction in a language Leonard couldn’t understand, but he was sure it was either an “enough” or a “silence”.

“We understand your concerns and appreciate them, but we do not trust your hospitals. We are but visitors here, and My Lord begs you to assist our compatriot,” Ayel replied, obviously under instruction from the shadowed man.

“He _begs_ me,” Leonard muttered toward Vasily, desperately trying not to roll his eyes. “Maybe if your Lord begged for some warmer clothes and better accommodation and I don’t know, medical help, earlier? I might be able to _assist_ you.” Leonard looked over Ayel’s shoulder and toward the man in the shadows. “I need to know where you have been. I suspect it hasn’t been this country and without that information I can only guess at what is wrong. I’m not gonna treat a man with something that might end up killing him!”

There was some more words, this time quieter and in a language that sounded Russian but Vasily appeared as clueless as Leonard. Ayel had only turned his head this time to listen.

“Your doctor is very passionate, Novikov,” the voice said in heavily accented English.

Leonard held his breath as he saw the man rise from where he had been seated and slowly making his way toward them. His form was slowly being revealed, the outline becoming clearer. He was tall and broad, not too heavily muscled like a gym-junkie, but more someone who works on the land. Leonard noted that he appeared to be bald. His suspicions were confirmed when, as if in a dramatic movie, the man moved into plain sight, his face slowly appearing from the dark like a face breaking through water. Nose first, cheek, lips, deep set eyes with slashing eyebrows above and the beginnings of some impressive tattoo markings. Then he stepped clearly out into the light and Leonard tried desperately to hide his shock. That face, that man could only be one person.

Nero.

The miner.

The reason Leonard was working for Novikov.

“He is very passionate, my Lord,” Vasily replied. “He is also very good at what he does. I would not have brought him to you otherwise.”

Nero stepped closer to stand just behind Ayel, resting a hand on the man’s shoulder. Leonard’s eyes were drawn to that place and he noted that the hand had moved some of Ayel’s hair out of the way, displaying tattoo markings similar to his Lord on his neck. Where Ayel appeared to have attempted to blend in, Nero was unique in his dress and appearance.

Nero stared at Leonard. Leonard lifted up his chin and stared right back. Nero finally blinked.

“What do you require, doctor, in the way of information? We will not tell you where we have been. That is beyond us, needless to say I am sure there is other means at your disposal?” Nero asked.

“If you let me take a blood sample from him and maybe a urine one, I can send those off to be tested.” At Ayel’s sharp glance sideways, Leonard continued, “I can ensure that the name provided on the sample will not trace back to you or your group. The man has seen a needle before? He won’t attempt to run from me? I hate when they do that.”

“I do not doubt that you scare many a patient into being wary of you, doctor.”

“Only those that should be so,” Leonard replied. An image of Jim Kirk came to his mind, of their earlier encounter in a warehouse and the conversation about Jim not trusting doctors, well, that he wasn’t that ‘good’ with them.

“Ayel,” Nero said before reverting back into the language they had been using before, that Leonard now suspected was Romanian.

Ayel glared at Leonard before nodding and heading over toward the patient. He knelt down next to him and spoke quietly.

“You can take the blood you need,” Nero said as he walked back to his hiding spot in the darkened corner.

Leonard nodded and walked over to his patient. He started to prepare to take a blood sample. While he prepped his patient, Ayel sat back on his heels, watching closely each of Leonard’s movements.

The man lay still while Leonard took a blood sample. Leonard would have liked a urine one as well, but he appeared dehydrated and in no state to move.

“He needs fluids and he needs a lot of them,” Leonard told Ayel. “That at least you can do for him. I will get this to the lab and be back tomorrow.”

Ayel narrowed his eyes at Leonard. “Mr. Novikov will bring you to us tomorrow.”

“If you remember any information that I may need to know or if his condition changes in the slightest way, Mr. Novikov can contact me,” Leonard told Ayel as he started to pack up his bag.

The one thing he really needed though, was confirmation of Nero’s name. The tattoos were unique and should almost be enough, but if he heard his name it would be the clincher.

He and Vasily were nearly at the doorway where Lebedev had been standing when, clear as a bell, it turned into Leonard’s lucky day. Leonard had glanced back into the warehouse while he waited for Vasily to exit the building first. Ayel was standing back near to Nero, no other members of their small group were close to them, as they were fussing around their sick friend. Ayel addressed him as “Captain Nero.”

Leonard had to hide his excitement as he walked toward the Mercedes.

Lebedev drove them back toward the Avenues in relative silence. As they neared his practice, Vasily spoke to him.

“You will get the results back, when?”

Leonard glanced at his watch. “I should be able to rush this to the lab from the office, but they won’t process it until tomorrow. If they aren’t too backed up maybe lunchtime or later,” Leonard said. “Look, I can’t push anything through quickly without suspicions possibly being raised,” he continued.

“Do not worry, you did good. I know you want more information, but please do what you can to help the man,” Vasily patted him on the knee like a good child.

Lebedev stopped the car directly outside his office. As he exited the car Vasily called after him, “As soon as you have news, you let me know and I shall take you to my friends.”

Leonard ducked his head down so he could see Vasily. “Sure,” he agreed.

He closed the car door and watched as it drove off. He contemplated quickly finding a pay phone to tip Captain Pike off but knew his time was short and he would have to get the blood work sent off today. He tried his office door, checking to see if it was locked. It was not, so he opened the door and entered, knowing that Christine was still in the office.

“Good, you are still here,” he said immediately as he walked in the door and spied her behind her desk. “I need you send this off to pathology straight away. I have jotted down the information on the container.”

He placed it on the top of her desk as he started to head toward his office, head down as he rummaged in his bag. “I have to go out again,” continued.

“Bones, don’t you ever let people just say hello first?” he heard a very familiar voice say.

“Jim!” he exclaimed as he looked in shock at the man who was leaning casually against the door jam of his office.

“I told you he knew me,” Jim smirked toward Christine.

Leonard looked between the pair of them, appearing to be very comfortable in each others presence.

“Boss, I was trying to tell you that you have a visitor,” Christine calmly told him as she pulled out the necessary paperwork.

“Oh, Boss, I like that. I still prefer Bones though,” Jim was smiling a little too happily for Leonard’s liking.

“You would,” Christine muttered.

“Hey!” Jim protested. “Bones, did you know that your nurse flirts with your customers?”

“I did not flirt with you!” Christine stopped to glare at Jim.

“I’m not a patient, but there was that handsome Russian fellow. I could hear the two of you cooing at each other,” Jim teased Christine.

“I did not!” Christine was fully glaring daggers toward Jim now, who just laughed at the expression on her face. “You!” she complained and returned to her work.

“Jim, get in the office!” Leonard ordered him.

“Yes, Boss,” Jim retorted as he stepped backwards into it, holding the door open.

Leonard walked into the office, trying to figure out how to tell Jim about what he had learned and yet mindful that the room was likely bugged by Vasily. He put his bag down on his desk and turned to talk to Jim, to discover that the door was shut and then Jim was pressing him back against the visitors chair placed next to his desk.

Next thing he knew he was being kissed, hard. He groaned into it and wrapped his arms around Jim, all the tension and adrenaline in him draining out as he just relaxed into Jim’s arms.

Jim’s hand found his ass and gripped as he tilted their groins together while he tried to get his tongue to wrap around Leonard’s. Leonard growled and pushed at Jim until he had him seated on the edge of his desk. He felt Jim wrap one leg around his and then Leonard decided it was time for him to take charge.

Leonard slid his arm around Jim in order to attempt to pull him closer than the clothes on his skin when he felt it. The weapon that had him pausing.

It broke the spell and brought Leonard crashing back to the here and now. He dropped his head onto Jim’s shoulder.

“Damn it Jim,” he whispered.

Jim grabbed his face between his hands and forced Leonard to look at him. There was a serious expression on his face.

“I know,” Jim replied to all the unspoken words that Leonard had expressed in those three little words. “Christine was worried about you.”

“Christine now?” Leonard asked.

“Fine looking nurse you have there, Bones,” Jim smirked slightly.

“Jim,” Leonard warned.

“Hey! She can handle me! I heard her dealing with Popov,” Jim explained.

At the mention of his watchdog, Leonard looked warily at Jim.

“She spotted him coming and she sent me in here so he had no idea I was around,” Jim explained. “Mind you, it meant I had to listen to him attempting to woo her. I would have gotten the hint a long time ago.”

Leonard sent a disbelieving look his way.

“Give me some credit,” Jim protested. “Fine. Whatever. Can’t believe you let him keep trying like that.”

“It is amusing to watch him fail regularly,” Leonard replied. “He’s remarkably respectful though and takes all her knock backs pretty well.”

Leonard looked around his office, considering how next to word his request.

He decided for direct.

“Look, you want to get out of here?”

Jim blinked and then smiled that little smile that Leonard was learning to treasure. The smaller the expression on Jim Kirk’s face, the more genuine it was.

“Sure,” he agreed, sliding just that little bit forward off the desk, rubbing his body with Leonard’s as he did so.

Leonard stepped back and went to open his door when he realized something.

“Shit,” he muttered as he turned back and nearly collided with Jim. “Hang on,” he told him.

He stepped around Jim and opened up his bag, searching and finding quickly the used needle and accouterments. He carefully took them out from where he had secured them. He placed them and his used gloves into the sharps bin.

“Done,” he told Jim, who opened the door, and they walked out of his office.

Christine had her head down ‘looking busy’ again which made Leonard blush slightly to consider that she might have heard them. The walls were not the thickest he had ever known and he could often easily hear conversations in the waiting room from his seat in the office.

“Christine, feel free to lock up once they have collected the sample. I’m heading off for the day,” he said.

“Okay,” she agreed watching him with curious eyes. He knew she had questions, but what he liked best was that she didn’t push and ask. Just waited for him to tell her things and he liked to think he offered her the same courtesy.

“It was nice to meet you, Christine,” Jim said as he followed Leonard toward the front door.

“You too, Jim,” Christine smiled at Jim, his teasing from earlier seemingly forgiven.

They walked out of his office together, Jim matching his strides.

“Where we going, Bones?” he asked.

Leonard stopped as he looked around the street. “Did you bring a car?”

“Well I sure didn’t walk here from the office,” Jim replied.

“Good, show me where it is and then we can drive toward your place,” Leonard continued to glance around surreptitiously.

“ _Toward_ my place?” Jim queried. At least he wasn’t slow on the uptake to realize that things had just changed.

“Yup, just get in the car and drive,” Leonard told him.

Jim nodded and walked quickly away, with Leonard following swiftly behind.


	7. Part Seven

“So, gonna tell me what is going on?” Jim finally asked once they had been on the road for a little while.

“Are we being tailed?” Bones responded instead with a question.

“What? No,” Jim said.

“You sure?” Bones pushed.

Jim flicked an annoyed look his way. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Then find a quiet street and pull over,” Bones told him as he stared ahead.

“Why?” Jim asked.

“For Christ’s sake, you have to question everything dontcha?” Bones complained. He continued before Jim could respond. “I need you to make a call and don’t want you driving while doing so. Prefer you having both hands on the wheel.”

“I dunno, Bones, I reckon there might just be a situation where you don’t mind my hands elsewhere,” Jim said as he moved one hand off the wheel and over toward Bones’ thigh.

“Ow!” he cried as Bones slapped at his hand before it could reach its intended destination.

“Enough of that!” Bones snapped at him.

Jim resisted the temptation to poke his tongue out as he attempted to turn off Lincoln Way into a smaller street. The after school traffic was a little nuts, but he managed it, finally finding a place to pull over to the side.

He got his phone out and showed it to Bones.

“So, who am I calling?” he asked.

“Pike,” Bones said, his jaw set.

Jim pulled up the contact and glanced over at Bones, who had the knuckle of one hand in his mouth and was gently worrying at it with his teeth.

“What am I gonna talk to him about?” Jim asked.

“Nero,” Bones said.

“What?” Jim replied, twisting slightly in his seat all the better to look at Bones who was still refusing to look at him.

“I’ve seen Nero, well, pretty damn sure it was him, “ Bones said as he turned serious eyes onto Jim.

“Bullshit!” Jim said.

“No bullshit, now call Pike, ‘cause I bet they are gonna be on the move soon. They are holed up in a little warehouse down at Hunters Point.”

“Fuck,” Jim breathed out as he dialed up Pike’s number.

There was that little click that told him Pike wasn’t in his office and his call was being re-routed back to Reception. Sure enough, Janice answered.

“Janice, Kirk here,” Jim interrupted her. “Can you put me through to Sulu?”

“Certainly. Transferring,” Janice said and then there was the god-awful muzak of the hold system coming tinnily through his phone.

“Jim, where are you?” Sulu said as his voice cut in mercifully over the abomination happening to his ear drums.

“Um, oh yeah, just past the entrance to Golden Gate park,” Jim told him.

“Where the fuck have you been? Pike was asking earlier and I told him you had to go see McCoy about some information. You better have something to tell him,” Sulu said.

“Where’s Pike?” Jim asked. “And Bones is here with me.”

“Got called out for something urgent with Archer. Don’t know when he will be back,” Sulu told him.

“Pike’s not there,” Jim told Bones before continuing to talk to Sulu. “What about Komack, although I know he hates my guts.”

“They all got called out,” Sulu replied. “What’s going on Jim?”

“Bones has seen Nero, but we’ve got to move fast to get our hands on him,” Jim said.

“Holy cow! Spock can’t help as Interpol only ‘assists’ investigations. No real power. But he is in here illegally, we can get him that way,” Sulu said.

“Sulu, you are brilliant, how could I forget that?” Jim cried.

“Probably because your eyes have been focused elsewhere?” Sulu muttered.

Jim glared at his phone in response. “Look, can you brief Spock about the Nero sighting and we’re gonna need that anticipatory warrant that Pike arranged when this whole thing started,” Jim looked toward Bones. “This is gonna blow your cover,” he told Bones.

“Was always gonna happen once we found him,” Bones replied.

“Right, let Spock know about Bones and get the team together. We’ve got to get in there now and get these guys before they disappear again and start blowing shit up in this country,” Jim told Sulu.

“Done. Get in here fast, man,” Sulu told him.

Jim hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket, “Hey, Bones,” he said as he grinned toward him.

“What?” Bones warily replied.

“Buckle up!” Jim said as he waggled his eyebrows and started the car up again.

He pulled out and quickly turned the car back onto the main road to head toward the FBI Offices, at a considerably faster speed than before.

***

“Remind me to never to let you drive again,” Bones grumbled as they walked down the corridor to the meeting room that Janice had directed them to.

Jim opened the door and the pair of them entered. Inside was the team that Sulu had assembled. There were the regulars that Jim expected and a few others that he didn’t.

Spock walked away from where he had been in discussion with Uhura, Pavel, and Scotty. He held his hand out toward Bones.

“Special Agent Dr. McCoy, I am Agent Spock from Interpol,” Spock introduced himself.

Bones shook his hand. “Captain Pike let me know you guys were interested in Nero.”

“I can understand the captain’s reticence at not informing the team of your position within the Novikov Organization, and I appreciate your coming down to assist us,” Spock continued in his normal formal nature.

“Just doing my job,” Bones replied. “Time is of the essence though and we need to get there as soon as possible before they get moved.”

“Most logical,” Spock agreed. “Agent Kirk, I believe the team is yours.”

Jim could feel Bones’ look of shock toward him.

“What?” Bones exclaimed.

“Pike made him second in command for the task force,” Sulu said.

“You’re kidding me!” Bones continued in his same disbelieving tone.

“Thanks for the support, Bones,” Jim replied as he slapped him on the shoulder and walked toward the head of the table. “Please join me, Spock,” Jim said as he saw him about to sit down at the table.

There was a slight twitch of an eyebrow, but that was the only expression that he showed.

Jim waited for everyone to be seated. Noting the little looks that the others were throwing Bones’ way, especially Pavel and Scotty.

“Can I ask why Miss Uhura has been invited?” Jim asked Spock quietly.

“She has unparalleled linguistic abilities in association with the Romanian dialect. I discussed the matter briefly with Special Agent Sulu and he agreed that her knowledge of what the Romanians may say to each other would be invaluable. Mr Scott has prepared some listening devices to be worn by relevant Agents and Miss Uhura will be able to relay information back to both of us during the course of this mission through ear pieces. Also of importance will be any recordings that can be made. Miss Uhura does have previous inclusion in Interpol investigations and her work with the United Nations is exemplary.”

Jim considered the matter and nodded. He then turned to address the team.

“Okay, first off I would like to introduce you all to Special Agent Dr. Leonard McCoy,” Jim said as he pointed toward Bones. “He has been working undercover for us within the Novikov Organization as their doctor. Agent Sulu and I were advised of his status not long ago by Captain Pike. Now, down to business. The main reason we have been watching the Novikov Organization is to do with the information we received that they had links to the man we only know as Nero, who is also sometimes referred to as ‘the miner’. Nero has a Red Notice from Interpol against his name and is suspected for war crimes in the Balkans as well as bombings in Tunisia and Turkey. He and his followers have very unique tattoo markings. Dr. McCoy has identified these markings on a group currently situated in a warehouse down at Hunters Point.”

The team was still listening intently, even though most of this was information that they knew, so Jim got down to the vital points.

“Agent Spock has wisely chosen to arrange for some listening devices to be used. Sulu and Burly, you will both be wired up. As far as we are currently aware, there are only two entrances into the warehouse, so we will use the standard procedures. Hannity, you and Burly will take the front entrance and Sulu and myself the back,” Jim ordered.

“Jim,” Bones said. “You do realize I am the only one who has been in that warehouse. There is a very sick man as part of that group that needs medical attention.”

“Fine, when we get there we can do a quick reconnoiter and go through the plan again and make any adjustments as needed,” Jim replied, but he wasn’t happy about the idea of Bones going into the warehouse with them. “The group consists of Nero, his second in command, Ayel, and five other unidentified men.”

“That is seven men,” Spock pointed out.

“One of them is of no use to them,” Bones pointed out. “He’s right though, Jim. I didn’t see any weapons, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any.”

“Spock, looks like you’re gonna get the opportunity to help us out,” Jim said.

“Interpol’s role is to observe and assist,” Spock calmly said.

“You can observe and assist from up real close,” Jim offered as he slapped Spock on the shoulder.

“Scotty, Pavel, you two will assist Miss Uhura in the translation as and when required, which will then be relayed back to Spock and myself. Everyone clear?” Jim asked.

There were nods from around the table.

“Good, Hannity you’re in charge of the weapons. Scotty and Pavel, can you two mic up Sulu and Burly?”

“Done,” Scotty agreed as he stood up. “If you gentlemen would like to come with me, we’ll get you all fixed up in a trice.”

Scotty left the room, followed by the other men. Hannity was close on their heels, but turned in the opposite direction once she reached the door. She was obviously heading for the weapons and equipment cache.

“I shall just leave you gentlemen to your final planning,” Uhura said as she too stood and left the room.

Jim walked back over toward where Bones was still sitting in his chair, although he had pushed it away from the table a bit.

“Bones, where’s your ID?” he asked.

“Shit,” Bones said. “Pike’s office. In his safe. Couldn’t keep it on me in case they found it.”

“Damn. You need your ID on you. You do know how to fire a gun, right?”

Bones gave him one of his best pissy looks. “No, Jim. I went to the Academy to sit on my ass the whole time. Idiot. Of course I know.”

“Agent Kirk, what is the meaning of this ‘Bones’ that you speak of? Special Agent Dr. McCoy I am not sure that insulting your team leader is appropriate,” Spock said.

“Don’t mind us, Agent Spock. Bones is the nickname I call Dr. McCoy, we are-” Jim paused as he searched for the right term to use. “Friends. I call him that name; he insults me. Special Agent Dr. McCoy is just really long to say. Much easier to call him Bones,” he said.

“I trust that you do not expect me to use that name?” Spock asked.

“I don’t like it when Jim does, but I ain’t one to stop him,” Bones said. “McCoy suits me just fine.”

Before Spock or Jim could reply, there was a knock on the open door. They all turned to see who it was and discovered Janice Rand standing there, looking as perfectly turned out as always. Jim realized that if anyone knew who could open Pike’s safe it would be her.

“Janice,” he grinned. “Looking lovely as always.”

“Dr. McCoy, I do believe you will be needing this,” she held out her hand and within it was a FBI badge.

Bones got out of the chair and walked over toward her. He took the badge and flipped open the cover to reveal the identification inside. His reaction was enough to tell Jim that the badge was his.

“Thank you, Miss Rand,” Bones said.

“I thought you said it was in Pike’s safe?” Jim asked.

“Last I saw of it, that’s where it was,” Bones replied.

Jim turned curious eyes on Janice, who just smiled at him in return.

“Did you break into Captain Pike’s safe, Janice?” Jim asked.

“Of course not. I had the combination,” Janice told them before turning and walking out of the room.

Bones laughed as he looked at Jim.

“Let’s go get kitted up,” Jim said as he walked toward the door and resisted the temptation to pout in Bones’ direction.

***

Jim pulled the car over as they entered the Hunters Point area down by the docks. He could see the others pulling up behind him.

He got out, grabbing the street directory. He walked around to the back of the car and opened up the directory to scan it until he found the right entry he was after. Bones had joined him from the other side of the car.

“Which street was it on?” Jim asked him while he waited for the others to join them. “We’re here,” he pointed out as Bones frowned down at the map.

“There,” Bones said as he pointed at a spot, H street.

Jim noted the streets around and started to formulate the plan. The others had joined them, Uhura hanging back a little, Jim noted, with Spock talking quietly to her.

“Scotty, how far away can you safely set the van to receive and transmit information from here?” Jim asked.

Scotty shouldered between Burly and Hannity to get a look at the street directory.

“I would guess here,” Scotty said as he pointed at a street one block away. “But this is an industrial area and it also depends on other factors around, like what are in nearby warehouses. If we could do a drive past I can do a little test to be sure?” he seemed to be asking permission.

“Pavel, reckon you can drive us past there and not make it look suspicious?” Jim asked.

“I can do that!” Pavel agreed with a large smile on his face.

“Wait a minute, Jim. How old are you, kid?” Bones asked.

“Seventeen!” Pavel answered proudly.

“Oh great, he’s seventeen,” Bones complained. “What the hell is a seventeen year old doing on a raid?”

“He works for us, Bones. Plus if there are any of the Novikov crew hanging around, they definitely know you, me, Sulu, Hannity and Burly. Spock could be spotted by the Romanians. Scotty is needed in the back of the van to run the test I presume?” Jim looked toward Scotty who nodded. “Miss Uhura is a civilian and I would like to keep her as safely away as possible. So that leaves Pavel as the best option and no one is gonna be suspicious of him. I mean look at him!” Jim pointed at Pavel who was not helping matters by beaming happily at Bones.

Jim figured that part of Bones’ disgruntled nature at the situation was to do with nerves and not being in control. The man definitely liked to be in charge and know what was going on. It had made their recent bouts of sex very interesting. Jim hoped that he would get a chance soon to have a go at some turnabout on the man. First though, they had a raid to get through.

“Bones?” Hannity asked.

“You really don’t want to know,” Sulu replied.

“I don’t feel so special any more,” Burly said sardonically toward Jim.

Jim just grinned at him and patted him on the cheek. “I still love ya, Cupcake.”

Burly snorted.

“Fine, but why are we still all standing around?” Bones interjected.

“Sulu? Hannity?” Jim asked, sure that they both knew exactly what he expected of them.

“We’ll get everything ready,” Hannity agreed.

“Miss Uhura, it might be best if you waited in the car. Keep an eye on her, Burly, we don’t want the UN getting annoyed at us,” Jim told him.

“That would be nothing new to you,” Bones muttered as he started to walk toward the van.

Sulu laughed at hearing Bones’ griping. Spock had paused to reassure Uhura of something. Jim noted that Spock’s hand was close to hers and then he reached forward to gently rub his fingers over hers in a gesture that spoke of a lengthy understanding between the two of them. It explained a lot.

Jim picked up the street directory and tossed it toward Pavel. “Can you follow those directions, Pavel?”

“Of course, sir. I have them already memorized and do not need the directory,” Pavel said as he caught the dog-eared directory.

“Well, take it just in case anyway,” Jim told him as he walked past to try and catch up to Scotty and Bones.

As he walked past Spock and Uhura, he heard Spock say, “Take care, Nyota.” The Ny of her name was elongated by Spock, making it sound very exotic and harking back to her African heritage. There was loving cadence to the way he said it. Jim watched with interest as Spock turned away from her to join him. Ahead of them Scotty and Bones had stopped to wait, while Pavel was getting into the driver’s seat of the van, oblivious to what had just been revealed. Scotty looked shocked, while Bones had that considering look on his face, the one that Jim knew meant he was filing information away to be used later.

“So her name is Nyota?” Jim asked as Spock joined him.

“I have no comment on the matter,” Spock replied with his normal stoic demeanor. Jim laughed at the stick-up-the-ass attitude. Spock couldn’t fool him now, he was getting to know the man.

“Let’s get in and get this show on the road,” Jim said as he pulled open the back door to the van, revealing the high tech kit on the inside that was hidden behind a rusty looking exterior and some blacked out back windows.

Scotty got in and immediately started playing with his equipment. Spock joined him at the console and they began quietly talking to each other as various lights and indicators flashed at them under Scotty’s quick and nimble fingers. Bones joined Jim by the back doors as Jim pulled them shut and called out to Pavel that they were all in and ready to go.

As the van pulled away from the curb, he asked Bones quietly if he was okay.

When he didn’t get an immediate response, Jim glanced back to see that Spock and Scotty were focused on the equipment, before he quickly reached and squeezed Bones gently on the arm.

“It’ll be fine,” Jim quietly assured him.

Bones turned that hazel gaze onto him. “Sure,” he said, but his gaze was telling Jim otherwise.

Jim flashed him a small smile and Bones turned to stare out the back windows. Jim let his hand drop away and they traveled quickly the rest of the way toward the warehouse in silence, apart from whatever Scotty was doing.

Pavel slowed the van as they reached H Street. Bones was now peering intently out the back of the van, toward the left side as Pavel continued driving at a steady pace.

“Coming up,” Bones said as they passed a sign that proclaimed, ‘F. Call Shipping’.

“Slow it a bit, Pavel,” Jim ordered.

Pavel did as ordered and Jim glanced forward to see the outline of him, though the partition that protected other people from seeing into the back of the van, leaning in the opposite direction from where they were all looking. The kid had great instincts.

Jim quickly turned back as Bones said, “There!” Spock immediately joined them and the three looked intently at the warehouse as Pavel continued slowly, pretending to look for something on the other side of the road.

Jim looked around and tried to envisage all the possible entrances and exits that could be created. Thankfully there appeared to be only the front door and the back one off to the far side that Bones had talked about. The windows were placed too high for anyone to crawl out of. It was small and quite derelict looking. Dark on the inside, no lights visible. The warehouses on either side had very high protective fences and it appeared to be the same at the back. It was almost a dead end.

“Got a lock, Scotty?” Jim asked.

“Aye,” Scotty said. “Laddie, turn left and then back onto the back street.”

“Yes, Mr. Scott, very good idea,” Pavel agreed.

Scotty turned back to his equipment and moved his headset back onto his ears.

Pavel didn’t speed off, he just kept slowly driving and pretending to look for a bit to allay suspicions of anyone watching the van. As he approached the cross roads, turned left and continued at a decent pace along the route that Scotty had suggested.

“Not too bad, seems we might be able to keep everything contained,” Jim told Spock and Bones.

“It might behoove you to consider alternatives in case of unknown scenarios,” Spock pointed out.

“Already done,” Jim assured him. “But it’ll work Spock, it’ll work. You’ll get your man.”

The rest of the drive back was spent in silence, Jim and Bones keeping guard by the back doors while Spock retreated to observe Scotty.

Pavel pulled the van to a stop on the other side of the road. Jim opened the back door and exited, heading over to Hannity’s car where Sulu and she were standing. Burly was by the other car, standing at its side while he talked to Uhura, who was seated in the back seat.

When Jim joined the other two, Burly left his position to head over as well.

Jim waited for Spock, Bones and Burly to join before he started telling the team the plan of attack. They drew a rough plan of the warehouse in the dirt by the side of the road. Scotty had joined them by this stage. Jim outlined that he and Sulu would enter from the door near the back, while Burly and Hannity would cover the front. Bones would enter after the initial arrests were made and see to the sick man. Spock would stand by the other door. He would provide a block but his status meant he couldn’t actually do anything. He declined the loan of a gun in order to make sure that the arrest couldn’t be tainted in any way.

Once Jim was sure that everyone was clear on their role, he sent them all off to get kitted up. He and Spock to be fitted with the IFB’s and receivers first, while Hannity handed out the weapons. Jim watched to see what Bones’ reaction was. While he was undercover, he didn’t have the weapon in his possession that was a normal part of an agent’s uniform. He also couldn’t undertake the mandatory training that happened regularly. Jim wanted to make sure that Bones would be able to take part in this raid. Bones’ long fingers slowly gripped the grip, testing the weight of the Glock in his hand. Then his movements became swift and sure as he checked the magazine, proving that he knew exactly what he was doing.

Spock apparently had to call Jim’s name more than once before getting his attention away from Bones and his hands. Jim snapped himself back to the task. He stepped up to the trunk and pulled out his flak jacket to put on, the others already had theirs. Dark blue with large yellow letters on the back. FBI. There would be no mistaking who they were.

Scotty had left to escort Miss Uhura to the van and the pair of them, with Pavel, set off to their hiding point so they could monitor and record the raid.

Jim checked to make sure everyone, apart from Spock, was armed and had their ID badges on display. With a nod, they all headed toward the cars, got in the right one for their ‘grouping’ and the drivers, in this case Hannity and Jim, started the cars and took off. Jim drove a slightly more circuitous route so that he and Hannity brought the cars toward the warehouse from opposite directions.

When Jim pulled into the street, he noticed that Hannity had beaten him there, as expected, but had pulled the car over to the side of the road. When she spotted his car, she pulled out and headed toward the warehouse. Jim sped up and arrived shortly after her. In near silence they all exited the cars and rushed to take up their positions. Jim knew that he and Sulu had to be loud as they entered in order to give the signal for the other two. He turned to check that Sulu and Bones were ready. They nodded at him, guns drawn and held securely downwards, just waiting for the right moment. Jim took a deep breath, steeled himself, turned the handle on the door and pushed it open.

“FBI! Hands in the air,” he cried as he entered the darkened space. He heard Sulu barking the same instructions. There was a flash of movement toward the front door and then a halt when Hannity and Burly burst in, guns drawn and silhouetted against the sunlight streaming in. Those that had been rushing forward stopped abruptly and raised their hands in the air.

Instructions were then barked for them to lie on the ground, hands on their heads. Jim hung back to observe the room better. Spock had entered to stand in the doorway and provide a block should anyone attempt to make a run for that door, while Jim was minding the side one. Bones entered and rushed past Jim toward the one person who hadn’t moved. Obviously the man he had seen to earlier in the day. Bones checked him over but kept his weapon in one hand just in case the man or others were going to cause further trouble.

Jim could count that, including the sick man, there were only five individuals present. That meant there were two missing, or still hiding somewhere in the warehouse. It was particularly devoid of clutter or even boxes, apart from some stacked up against the front wall that Jim would get the others to...

“Jim!” he heard Bones cry. He turned as he felt a rush of air moving toward him. A man was coming at him out of the shadows. He didn’t have time to raise his weapon before he felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull and then down his arm.

He felt himself loosing grip on his gun that then went skittering across the floor. He shook his head quickly and blinked to allow light back into his vision. Once he could clearly see again, he noticed the man now rushing toward some step railings, up to a walkway high up at skylight level. There was no way he was going to let the perp get out that way.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sulu moving toward him.

“I got this,” Jim cried as he rushed forward to try and reach the man. He could hear a cacophony of noise as the detainees started yelling out in what he could only presume was Romanian. There were more barked instructions from his team and he could see Bones moving to help Sulu, who was covering two of them. He ignored the fact he had lost his gun. It was too far away to retrieve and hand to hand would just have to do. If the guy had any weapons, he would have used them at the first rush toward him.

The man was climbing swiftly up the ladder. Jim got the impression that he was half monkey with how quickly he was going. Jim grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing himself. The metal was cool to the touch under his hands and had that rough texture that only came with years of rust and dirt. Jim pulled himself up the rungs as quickly as he could, trying to get to the man before he could take off along the walkway and disappear out onto the roof. There was a boot just ahead of him and Jim reached out to grab hold of it. He got a grip but then it was like trying to hold onto a bag full of squirming kittens. The man hit the walkway hard, the rattle of the metal loud, even over the yelling happening below. He started to lash out with his foot, trying to dislodge Jim’s grip. Jim had to stop his own climb in order to hold on, his shoes slipping a bit on the surface of the rung after a particularly vicious kick, back and down toward his head. He hung on for dear life with his other hand.

“FBI. Give it up, man,” Jim ordered.

He could hear the faint voices of Uhura and Pavel as they tried to translate what was being said. The sound was crackling and a little distracting but Jim tried to concentrate on the man above him, still squirming and kicking out. He got lucky with one swift kick right toward Jim’s head. In order to not fall off the ladder, Jim had to let go of the foot and duck out of the way. As soon as he let go, the man was scrambling to stand up, so Jim re-grasped the ladder and pulled himself up the final rungs. He had limited warning before a boot landed on his hand that had reached the top of the walkway.

“Argh,” he cried as he felt every indentation in the sole of the boot as it connected with the bones in his hand. The next move would be another stomp on his hand, but Jim refused to let go or move it. He knew he had one chance to climb up and would have to risk further injury while he was in this vulnerable position. He gripped harder as he saw the boot rise again. Suddenly he saw something that made him reconsider the man he was fighting with.

The faint light coming through the dirt encrusted windows was enough to illuminate with a flash, the metal tucked into the man’s waistband. Something that looked remarkably like a gun. Jim was utterly confused as to why the guy hadn’t used it on him earlier when he had the drop. Jim only had seconds to process this shocking new development before the boot connected with his hand again. He steeled himself, bunched his muscles and just as it was about to land again, he surged upwards, using his now free hand to grab the foot and jerk it high.

The surprise was on Jim’s side this time, the movement of his leg caused the other man to tip backwards and fall with a thud onto the walkway. Jim scrambled up to pull himself onto the same level and then crawled after the man, who was now trying to turn over himself so he could rise. Jim made a grab for his legs.

The walkway swayed slightly as the pair of them grappled. The man kicking out and twisting his body as he attempted to get free. Jim crawled forward, ruining his suit pants, slipping as he held onto the man’s legs for dear life. He used his leverage on the man’s legs to help pull himself up further, to where he could attempt to overpower the man before he remembered he had a gun.

The higher Jim got, the more he had to duck blows from fists and knees. Some connected and some missed, a particularly good one got him right on the cheekbone and he felt more than heard a possible crack followed by a swift pain. That was enough of a hit to allow the man to struggle upwards and aim a kick toward Jim’s head, another glancing blow as he twisted away to avoid it, not fully succeeding. A flash of light in the darkness being most unwelcome, another injury to add to his list.

The man turned to run again and Jim spotted what he was aiming for. A partially open window, large enough to crawl through. Jim rose and sprinted after him. He grabbed the man around the waist and tried to twist them both to land back down on the walkway. The impact of his shoulder on the man had him expelling an “oof” of breath. Another sore spot he would have to deal with tomorrow. The fight then started in earnest.

Fists, clawing hands and all within the confined space of the walkway, the railings keeping them both from tentatively tumbling over and onto the hard concrete floor below. If it wasn’t a fist getting him, then it was the metal of those railings connecting with his body and leaving bruises that were sure to be impressive later. They both managed to stagger upwards between blows, neither gaining any real ascendancy.

Jim got in some good punches himself, including a particularly satisfying one that had his knuckles cracking, the skin splitting and the sound of bones connecting solidly with bone. The man’s head snapped back and he staggered slightly. His coat billowed out and Jim’s eyes were drawn down to his waist. His fears were confirmed when he clearly saw a gun. Jim moved smartly toward him but the man recovered even quicker than expected and Jim found his air cut off. He hadn’t even seen the hands coming until it was too late.

The man pushed him back toward the railing. Jim could faintly hear his name being called from below, but that was muffled in comparison to the rushing of blood through his ears as the man squeezed harder and bent him backwards over the railing. Jim’s hands scrambled ineffectively as he tried to get the man to release his grip.

“Nero, call him off or I shoot,” he heard Bones yell.

“What?” the man asked as a wary look came over his eyes, replacing the intent one that had been there so recently.

Jim took his chance with the distraction from below. His hands moved down where he had last seen the gun.

“I mean it, Nero! Call off Ayel or I will shoot you,” Bones repeated loud and clear, silencing everyone in the room.

“Ngghn,” Jim tried to speak, but it was difficult with your airway being squeezed while bent backwards over a railing in a position most gymnasts would be impressed with.

He got Ayel’s attention back on him. “What?” he asked again.

“Ngghn,” Jim tried to speak again. Ayel mercifully relaxed his grip just enough that Jim was able to rasp out his next words.

“I got your gun,” Jim said as he pulled the hammer back on the old style revolver. The sound was unmistakable and clearly echoed around the warehouse.

Ayel had a choice to make. Be shot or live.

Jim watched as conflicting thoughts fought for dominance in his head, his face expressing his confusion.

“Ayel,” Bones yelled. “Back off or I will shoot ‘your Lord’!”

“Who is to say you really have My Lord in your sight? You know I can’t see below and he may not even be there. You could be pretending like you were earlier this day. Pretending to care for Sirol,” Ayel yelled back.

Jim pressed the gun further into Ayel’s gut.

“He wasn’t pretending, and you can bet as sure as shit he isn’t now,” Jim growled. “Don’t give me an excuse to pull this trigger.”

Spock then called out something in a language that Jim was unfamiliar with but it seemed that Ayel was well aware of what it meant. The look in his eyes turned to fear and he let go of Jim’s neck, stepped back and away from him.

There was noise from below and Jim heard Sulu barking instructions for Hannity to cover the detainees while Burly was to cover Bones and arrest Nero. The man, the shadow that so many international agencies had been chasing, was finally coming out into the light. Jim wasn’t going to see it happen. He had a Romanian that he needed to get back down the ladder, somehow.

“Move,” he ordered as he gestured with the gun toward the ladder.

Ayel watched him warily before turning and trudging back the way they had come. They moved considerably quicker now they were walking on their feet instead of crawling and kicking at each other. Jim tried not to cough to help his throat recover. He didn’t want Ayel to suspect any weak spots. Instead, he kept swallowing, as it seemed to make him feel a little bit better. Ayel paused at the ladder and Jim considered how on earth he was going to cover the man and then get down himself.

“Come on down, Ayel,” Sulu said.

Jim glanced down and there was Sulu, gun trained on Ayel. Jim turned back to their captive and motioned with the revolver for him to head down the ladder.

He climbed down considerably slower than how he had come up. Jim took the opportunity to check out what was going on in the rest of the warehouse. Hannity was being her efficient self and had herded the other members all together and was reading them their Miranda rights. Burly was putting handcuffs on a bald-headed man with a series of very impressive tattoos upon whatever skin he had exposed. Bones was watching the man intently, gun extended as he covered Cupcake. Spock was still in the agreed upon spot by the door. Jim had no idea what he had said but he was exceedingly grateful. He hadn’t wanted to shoot an unarmed man but Ayel had some insane strength in his hands and Jim was going to have an impressive set of bruises to show off.

“Turn around, hands up,” Sulu ordered when Ayel reached the floor of the warehouse. Sulu then searched him for weapons. When he found nothing, he ordered Ayel to place his hands down on his back, pulled out his handcuffs and cuffed him. Once he was satisfied, he pulled Ayel none too gently away from the ladder and Jim, uncocking the revolver, slipped it into his waist band and started to climb down himself. He was starting to feel all the aches and pains from his little fracas with Ayel. There was blood seeping out slowly of the grazes on his knuckles, there were surely other bloody reminders of the fight on the rest of his body. To hide the severity of his injuries, he did a little jump down a couple of rungs from the bottom, steeling himself not to wince as he landed.

Burly was moving Nero toward the group with Hannity. Jim could see there was some frantic discussion going on in undertones amongst the group but at the sight of Nero being walked toward them, they shut up.

“Burly,” Jim called.

Burly turned toward him and Jim just shook his head slightly. “Keep him away from them,” he mouthed.

Burly pulled Nero away and closer to Spock, who Jim could see was tensing slightly as the men approached.

“You might want to get your gun,” Sulu pointed out.

Jim looked and saw where it had skittered across the floor and into the kitchen area. He walked over to collect it, noting that Bones had gone back to the sick man and was checking on him again.

“Have they all had their Mirandas?” Jim asked as he put his gun back in it’s holster.

Hannity nodded at him and Sulu did the same.

“I read them for Nero,” Bones said without looking up.

“And him?” Jim asked, meaning the sick man.

“He got ‘em but I don’t know if he understands,” Bones replied.

Jim’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw Pike’s number on the screen. This was going to be fun.

“Kirk,” he answered.

“Do you want to explain to me exactly what is going on?” Pike asked, his tone letting Jim know that he wasn’t best pleased.

Jim looked around the warehouse before answering.

“We’ve got Nero and his crew,” Jim said, deciding to be blunt.

Pike sighed into the phone. “Where are you?”

“At the warehouse down at Hunter’s Point. I gave the details to Janice, she passed them on to you, right?”

“She did. She left a message with Archer’s secretary to call her as soon as I got out of the meeting,” Pike explained.

“I like Janice,” Jim said.

“I’m sure she lives for your approval,” Pike sardonically replied.

“Are you on your way here?” Jim asked, ignoring that comment from Pike.

“I am. What do you need, Kirk?” Pike asked. Jim could hear the sounds of traffic in the distant background.

“We’ve only got two cars here, and the van, but we can’t use that. Oh and Olsen’s gonna be pissed. Scotty did some ‘things’ to it,” Jim explained.

“I think he will be more pissed that you took it without him being around,” Pike responded. “I can handle Olsen, how many cars do you need?”

Jim did a quick calculation in his head. “With yours brings it to three, so we need another four, no three and an ambulance.”

“Who did you shoot?” Pike asked.

Jim turned around and away from the others as he answered Pike in a hissed tone. “I didn’t shoot anyone! There was a sick member of Nero’s crew, that’s how Bones found out about it. The guy really isn’t well and I think Bones would be happy if he was in a hospital.”

“McCoy’s there?” Pike asked.

“Yeah, he led us here and wanted to check on the sick guy. He was the one to collar Nero,” Jim said quietly as he looked over his shoulder and back at Bones.

“His cover’s fully blown now,” Jim continued.

“We’ll deal with it back in the office. I’ll be there shortly and arrange for the extra cars to get there.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jim said. “Kinda surprised you haven’t yelled at me yet, though.”

“Kirk, that will come later,” Pike said just before hanging up.

“Oh goodie,” Jim sighed as he looked down at his phone.

“Pike?” Sulu asked as Jim slipped the phone back in his pocket.

“Yeah, bringing some extra cars. Got to keep this lot separate,” Jim said.

Sulu was guarding Ayel, standing between him and the open door that was letting in a small amount of light. It wasn’t enough to illuminate the space though, there were still darkened nooks and crannies that they hadn’t checked.

“Keep an eye on them, I’m just gonna check these areas,” Jim said as he nodded toward where Nero had been hiding.

“Here,” Sulu said as he tossed him a small pen light he had pulled out of his pocket.

“Thanks,” Jim replied as he caught it. He pulled out his gun and, positioning the light alongside it, proceeded toward the dark areas.

Jim carefully searched each section, but didn’t find anything of interest apart from items that proved that the warehouse had been out of use for a while and it’s only inhabitants, until recently, were rats. It was clear that the group had only been in residence a day or two at the most. Novikov’s little game on Sunday now made complete sense. While the major law agencies in the city were occupied with a huge drug and gun smuggling bust, the Romanians were brought in. Right under their noses.

“You clever asshole,” Jim said quietly as he realized all the strings that Novikov had been pulling, including within his own organization. Jim looked toward Bones, who was still kneeling on the floor by his patient. “Maybe not that clever, though.”

“Do you always talk to yourself, Kirk?” Pike asked him.

Jim jumped slightly and turned toward the voice. Sure enough, there was his boss, who had managed to sneak up on him.

“If it gets me intelligent conversation, then sure,” Jim replied.

Pike tilted his head and gave him his best, ‘cut the crap and brief me, _now,_ agent,’ look.

Jim took the hint and started updating Pike on all that had happened and the decisions that Jim had made in his absence. Partway through the explanation, the ambulance turned up. Bones looked up in surprise and noticed Pike for the first time. Jim filed away the knowledge that once Bones got in doctor mode, he became oblivious to all other things happening around him.

“Thank you, sir,” Bones said to Pike as the paramedics started to ready the gurney to transfer the man away.

“Don’t thank me,” Pike said as he strode over to Bones. ”Jim was the one who told me to call one.”

Bones looked at him quickly and Jim saw the narrowing of his eyes as he took in the scrapes that were now starting to sting on his face.

The small warehouse began to feel smaller as more people entered through the single front door.

“Good, Immigration are here. They have all been read their Mirandas?” Pike asked.

Jim nodded, “even the sick one, although Bones wasn’t sure if he really understood. They have all been told they are being detained under suspicion of being illegal aliens.”

“Good. You stay here,” Pike ordered Bones as he made a move to follow the paramedics.

Bones opened his mouth to speak, but Pike held up one hand and Bones shut his mouth. Jim noted the pissed off look on Bones’ face, but marveled that Pike had the power to shut him up.

“Stay. We will be handing them over to Immigration. You can follow later but for now you will stay here,” Pike ordered before heading over to speak to the Immigration agents who were conversing with Hannity.

Bones stepped closer to Jim. “You need to get looked at, kid,” he said quietly.

“They’re just scrapes,” Jim tried to brush him off.

“These aren’t scrapes,” Bones said as he raised his hand up to touch Jim’s neck.

Jim flinched away. “I told you, I don’t do well with doctors.”

“If I have to tie you down, I _will_ look at these,” Bones promised.

Jim waggled his eyebrows before leaning forward to speak quietly. “You can tie me up, if I get to handcuff you again.”

“Jim,” Bones hissed warningly. “I’ll damn well gag you instead!”

“Promises,” Jim whispered into Bones’ ear.

“Kirk! McCoy!” Pike yelled. Jim looked up to see him stalking over toward where Burly had Nero.

“C’mon,” Jim said as he motioned for Bones to join him in heading over to join Pike.

They arrived just in time to hear him introduce himself.

“I’m Special Agent in Charge, Captain Christopher Pike, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Francisco Office,” Pike said.

Nero looked up at him from where he had been sitting cross legged on the floor, his hands cuffed securely behind him. Jim got his first look up close at the man that had struck fear in the hearts of many well seasoned law enforcement officials. His dark eyes were intent on Pike. The tattoos were a very unique look and, unlike Vasily who had a veneer of attempting to fit into society, this man was destined to always stand out.

“Hello Christopher. I’m Nero,” he said in a slightly mocking tone.

“This is Agent Kerrigan from Immigration. I am passing custody of you over to him,” Pike told him.

Nero’s face was expressionless. Surrounded on all sides by government and, in the case of Spock, an international agent, he should have been scared, annoyed. Or anything really, to show that he had been caught after nearly two years evading capture as one of the most wanted war criminals and terrorists in the world. There was nothing, just a calm acceptance. Jim was sure the man had something planned and if the way all of the other agents were standing, then they were having similar thoughts.

Kerrigan reached for Nero to assist him in standing and started to walk him toward the cars waiting outside. When Nero reached Spock, he stopped.

“Say hello to your mother for me, Spock,” Nero said before Kerrigan pulled him away.

Spock’s eyes flared for a moment and there might have been a twitch on his cheek, but he just glanced down at the floor after Nero had passed.

Jim looked at Bones, who did a little shoulder shrug, appearing as mystified as Jim as to what that was all about. There was history between the two men. One Jim knew he would get the answers too sooner or later.

“Spock?” Pike asked.

“I am equable, Captain. May I suggest that we return to the office and see what information Mr. Scott and Miss Uhura were able to gleam from their recordings?”

Jim looked around to see other Immigration agents escorting out the Romanians. He hissed quietly in pain as the movement had caused a muscle to pull in a way it didn’t currently want to.

It wasn’t quietly enough.

“McCoy, look him over,” Pike ordered. “We will meet you back at the office. And don’t even start to tell me you are fine, Kirk!”

“Over here,” Bones said as he started to walk toward the kitchen area and the only working light in the whole building. “Sit.” Bones pointed at the counter.

Jim obeyed, but he wasn’t that pleased with having to be checked over.

Bones moved in closer and Jim spread his legs to allow him access. Bones was focusing on his neck. He tilted his chin up and felt Bones’ gentle fingers probing at the sore spots on his neck. Jim closed his eyes and just let Bones tend to him. He winced as Bones probed at his hand, but still kept his eyes shut, just concentrating on the feel of them. Jim finally opened his eyes as Bones pushed on his cheek.

“Ow,” Jim complained.

“Shush, you big baby,” Bones responded.

“I get the shit kicked out of me and you call me a big baby?” Jim complained.

“So you admit you did?” Bones asked. “You will go to the hospital after we get back.”

“I’m fine,” Jim said.

Bones just looked at him, making his disbelief of that statement evident. He moved his hands around to the back of Jim’s head. Jim hissed when he found a particularly sore spot.

“Fine, my ass,” Bones said.

Jim smirked as he slid his hands around Bones’ waist and squeezed his ass. “That it is.”

“Jim,” Bones said warningly as he looked around the warehouse.

“No one is here,” Jim said. “I checked.”

“Anyone can come back in at any time. Don’t make me tell Pike you were uncooperative,” Bones threatened.

Jim leaned forward to press a quick kiss to Bones’ lips.

“Jim,” Bones said against his lips as Jim kissed him again.

Jim groaned. The movement of Bones’ lips were too tempting and Jim wanted to press even harder, but he was right, now was not the time.

Jim raised his hands up and sat back up again. “I’ll be good,” he said.

“I’ll believe that when you finally do it. C’mon, you need to be seen to, but we need to finish this off first,” Bones said as he slid his hands off of Jim. There was a definite caress to his touch.

“You saved my ass,” Jim said, stopping Bones as he stepped backwards.

“Just doing my -” Bones started to say before Jim interrupted him.

“Bullshit. If it wasn’t for you I might have had to shoot him and heaven knows what Nero might have done,” Jim told him.

“I...” Bones stared at the ground. “I’m not sure I’m really cut out for this.”

Jim slid off the kitchen counter. “None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for you,” Jim said.

“Yeah, maybe,” Bones was still looking down as he turned and walked over toward the door.

Jim followed.

The fading sunshine of the late afternoon greeted them as they exited the building. Sulu was over by the car. Two cars Jim didn’t recognize were pulling out onto the road, and the ambulance was nowhere in sight. Bones and Jim headed over toward Sulu.

“Oh fuck,” Bones said.

Jim quickly glanced at Bones to see what had caused him to exclaim. Bones was looking at the road. Jim glanced back to see two cars slowly cruise past, and his hand crept back to his weapon.

“Sokolov’s,” Bones said.

“Yeah,” Jim agreed.

“All four of them. Bogdan, Leonid, Valery and Rostislav,” Bones named each of them as they passed. “Fuck,” Bones exclaimed again.

“No way can you go back to your apartment. Cover fully blown now. We’ll have to update Pike,” Jim agreed.

“Speaking of,” Sulu said. “We should get out of here. Don’t want to hang around here too much longer.”

“Deal,” Jim agreed.

They all got into the car, Sulu driving, and headed back to the office to wind up their investigation.


	8. Part Eight

Leonard was waiting in the office for Christine to arrive. He was still in the same suit he had been dressed in yesterday, but this time he had two important additions. His gun and his ID.

He took a deep breath as the front door started to open.

“Morning, Christine,” he said as she walked in the door.

“Leonard! You are here early and...wearing the same clothes as yesterday,” she said as she stood in the open doorway.

“Come in and shut the door,” Leonard requested.

“What happened?” she asked as she did as he had wished.

“I have something to tell you. I’ve been a little less than truthful with you,” Leonard admitted.

“Leonard,” Christine said with a concerned look on her face. She placed a hand on his arm.

Leonard reached into his jacket to pull out his ID. He presented it to her.

She opened it and looked up at him with shock, before quickly glancing back down again.

“I’m a Federal Agent and have been working undercover. I’m very sorry but I couldn’t tell you the truth,” Leonard told her while she continued to look at his ID. Her fingers were tracing over the shape of his face in his picture.

“But you are a doctor?” she asked.

“I was and still am. It’s why they needed me for this job,” Leonard said, hoping that she would look up at him soon. They had worked together closely for a few months and he really did appreciate her friendship. He hoped this hadn’t ruined anything.

She finally looked up, but it was to see the front door opening. Leonard pulled his gun out of his holster. He had kept it hidden, but where he could easily bring it out if needed.

He needed it. Kirill Popov entered the room. Leonard put a hand on Christine’s shoulder to push her gently to his side, all the better to protect her.

“Miss Chapel, Christine,” he said as he stepped inside and then stopped dead as Leonard brought his gun out into plain sight.

“Dr. McCoy, or is it?” Popov asked.

“That is my name and my job,” Leonard agreed.

“Not your only job,” Popov observed.

“True, although I do wonder about your past too,” Leonard offered.

“Leonard, a gun? Really?” Christine asked.

“With him in here, it’s needed,” Leonard replied.

“They know about you,” Popov pointed out. “Spies are not looked upon kindly.”

“Like former cops?”

Popov narrowed his eyes and then gave Leonard a slight nod.

“What?” Christine asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. It was obvious to Leonard that she really was a little lost with everything that was going on.

“Mr. Popov here used to be a cop back in Russia and then he decided to quit that job, immigrate to the good ol’ U.S. of A and join his uncle in a new line of work,” Leonard explained.

“A policeman? You were a policeman?” she asked.

“I was,” Popov said as he took a step toward Christine.

Leonard raised his weapon higher. Popov put his hands in the air and stepped back to his former position.

“How can a policeman work for the mob?” Christine asked him. “And you!” She turned toward Leonard and smacked him gently on the shoulder. “You’re a doctor! Not a policeman.”

“Christine!” Leonard complained.

She crossed her arms and glared at him.

“Can’t I be both?” he asked.

“Can you?” she queried in return.

Leonard sighed. She had brought up the exact question he had been asking himself all night. The one that had kept him awake for most of it, once he and Pike had returned to Pike’s house, his own apartment now strictly off limits to him if he wanted to stay in one piece. They had been at the hospital to check on Sirol, the ill Romanian, plus Pike had literally frog marched Jim into the Emergency Room and got him seen to. Leonard hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jim since that brief time in the warehouse. Being a Fed suited Jim; it was almost as if it was what he was born to do, but Leonard thought of his own calling and that seemed to be medicine more than law enforcement.

He was stopped from answering by the door opening again. The man who entered had Christine inhaling sharply, Popov stepping to the side and Leonard clicking the safety off and raising the gun up. Up to aim it directly at Vasily who was now standing in the doorway.

“Tsk, tsk, Leonard. Is this any way to treat a friend?” Vasily asked as he stepped in and closed the door.

“Where’s Lebedev?” Leonard asked.

“I do not need him today. Nephew,” Vasily said as he turned to greet Popov. “Leonard, put the gun down,” Vasily said.

“Nope,” Leonard said.

“Leonard, you are my friend and no harm will come to you.”

Leonard looked at Vasily disbelievingly.

Vasily laughed. “This is why I like you, Leonard. You should have been respectful, but I knew I would always get the truth from you. Mostly the truth.”

The door started to open again, which meant that Vasily moved off to the other side, Leonard moved his gun back and forth between the door and Vasily, unsure of where the biggest threat was going to come from.

A head appeared around the door. Jim’s head. It was attached to the rest of the body, as Jim quickly stepped in to join the impromptu party that seemed to be taking place in the office waiting room.

“Damn it, Jim!” Leonard groaned.

Jim brought his own weapon out. “You’re a bit popular this morning, Bones. Hi Christine,” Jim said.

“Jim,” Christine greeted him.

“Agent Kirk, so pleasant to see you,” Vasily obviously did not like to be ignored.

“Can’t really say the same,” Jim responded.

“You are just in time. I was about to tell Leonard the good news,” Vasily said.

“Really? Like how you want to come back to the office and tell us how the Romanians got into the country?” Jim asked.

“Ahh, Agent Kirk, do not change,” Vasily told him. “I was just helping out an acquaintance. I was about to tell Leonard that he does not need to move. He has been an excellent doctor and my boys have been told that Leonard is my friend.”

Leonard looked at Vasily in shock. He didn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

“You were doing your job, Leonard. It must have been difficult for you and to have to lie to people is not in your nature, I think. You are a little like my nephew. A good boy he is. This life is not for you, or for him.”

“Uncle?” Popov asked, a confused look on his face.

“I am pleased that you are here, nephew, but I think your life should be your own. My sister would not want it any other way,” Vasily smiled benevolently towards Popov.

Leonard looked at Jim, who just shrugged at this new development and Vasily’s ‘change of heart’. Popov seemed to be a bit taken aback by his uncle’s words, his gray eye’s flickering back and forth between Vasily and Christine, Leonard noted with interest.

“Are you saying that I could stay here and have no trouble from any of your associates?” Leonard asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You can stay and all will know you are my friend,” Vasily said.

“Can’t say I rightly believe you. What if I go somewhere else? Will I be your friend there too?” Leonard asked warily.

“Bones, where you going?” Jim asked.

“Now is not the time, Jim,” Leonard told him.

“No matter where you are, you will be my friend. I would be sad to see you go back to Atlanta. I have friends there that will make sure you are treated well. I think you have good friends here who would much prefer you to stay, no? You have a lovely nurse and Agent Kirk will be bereft without your company. Who will patch up his bruises?” Vasily asked as he waved toward Jim’s face that was looking a little the worse for wear after his tête-à-tête yesterday.

“Nephew, come. I think it would be best if we leave the friends to talk,” Vasily continued before Jim or Leonard could protest at his words. “You can visit Miss Chapel later.” With that, Vasily was walking toward the door. He stopped by Jim, waiting for him to move out of his way. There was a short battle of wills between the two of them before Jim stepped back and allowed Vasily to leave.

Vasily stopped when he reached the door and turned back to address Leonard again. “I know you do not trust me, Leonard, but when I have been less than honest with you? You are under my protection and shall remain so. I know you appreciate plain speaking, and this is as plain as I can make it. I would like you to stay and I am sure there are others here that would wish it so too. If you wanted to leave and did not feel safe, you would not be here this morning. I think you wish to stay too? No?” On that question Vasily walked out of the office, turning it into a rhetorical one and leaving the four of them inside with a look of confusion on each of their faces.

Popov turned to Christine and appeared to be asking silent permission to approach her. Leonard nodded and Popov wasted no time in walking forward and claiming one of her hands.

“I am sorry if you were scared, Miss Chapel. It was never my intention. I find you most honorable and would be pleased if you allowed me to, how you say? Call on you?” Popov asked.

Christine blinked at him, she glanced at Jim and Leonard. They both just shrugged at her, leaving the decision in her hands.

“I’ll think about it,” she offered.

“It is more than I deserve,” Popov said as he raised her hand and pressed a kiss to it. He let go as he walked away from her and out the door, following his uncle.

Christine was still standing with her hand in the air where he had let go of it. A slightly stunned expression was on her face.

“Christine, I’m closing the practice. Can you please call and cancel all our appointments?” Leonard asked gently. “Tell them that I recommend Dr. Piper as an excellent physician.”

She dropped her hand and nodded before walking around the desk. Leonard holstered his gun and then held out his hand toward her.

“Can I have my badge back?”

“Oh, yes of course,” she said as she handed it over.

He tucked the badge away before speaking to her again, ignoring Jim who was still standing silently by the door.

“I wanted to know if you might be interested in moving to Atlanta?” Leonard asked her. “It’s not as far away from St Louis as San Francisco is, but it’s far enough?”

“Bones! No!” Jim said as he stepped up to Leonard and grabbed his arm.

“I can’t stay here, Jim,” Leonard explained.

“You heard him, he kept saying over and over that you could stay here. Even if you go there, he will be watching. Here we can protect you,” Jim offered.

“Jim,” Leonard said sadly. “What if it’s another of his games?”

“Excuse us, Christine, I need to take your boss into his room and beat some sense into him,” Jim said as he pulled Leonard toward his office.

Leonard dug his heels in. “No, Jim. My mind is made up.” Leonard looked away from Jim, knowing he spoke less than the truth and that Jim seemed to already have an uncanny ability to pick up on what was truth and what was not, so he wasn’t game to lock eyes with the man.

“Get your ass in that room so I can un-make it or so help me I will kiss you right here and now!” Jim declared.

Christine’s head snapped up to stare at the pair of them. Jim had a bullish expression on his face that told Leonard in no uncertain terms that the kissing would be the least of his problems.

Leonard growled at him and stormed off toward the office. Yanking the door open, he entered, Jim close upon his heels.

Leonard rounded on Jim the moment he closed the door. He hissed quietly knowing that sound travelled easily within the office. “I’m not cut out to be an Agent. I’m a doctor, it’s what I do best. I want to help people. Even in the midst of all that chaos yesterday, I thought more like a doctor most of the time. Let me go home, be what I should be,” Leonard ended on a plea.

“What we do helps people,” Jim countered.

“Not in the same way,” Leonard retorted.

Jim dropped his head as he nodded.

“I thought you might see it that way,” Jim said quietly. “Can’t you stay here and be a doctor? Open another practice, maybe get back into your surgery at one of the hospitals here?”

Leonard looked at Jim in shock.

“That one,” Jim said as he pointed toward one of his framed degrees. “That means you are a surgeon. You’re not just a doctor, but a surgeon.”

“Why would I stay here, Jim? Always waiting for the day that I am no longer Vasily’s friend? Wondering when and if that would ever happen? Can we really trust him after all the running around he’s made us do? What’s here for me, really?”

“Like Vasily said, there’s Christine. Are you just going to leave her?” Jim asked.

“You heard me, Jim, I asked if she would come with me. She’s got excellent qualifications and is one of the best damn nurses I have ever worked with. She’s too good for a little local practice like this,” Leonard gestured around him.

“He couldn’t have made it clearer that you don’t need to leave. I think he really did mean it. I mean, didn’t you hear what he said about Popov, how you and he are alike. He’s also made sure that he keeps Popov away from most of his activities so he can’t be arrested. He’s a former cop and the others all hate his guts but none of them will touch Popov for fear of Vasily. Really though, what’s back for you in Atlanta? An ex-wife? All those rumors that had you running this direction? Vasily’s friends looking out for you? Why not stay here?” Jim pushed.

“It was where I grew up, Jim,” Leonard said. What Jim had said about Popov made sense in a weird way if you knew Vasily, and Leonard had gotten to know Vasily well these past months. Not many of his crew were allowed to address him by his first name, and Leonard had been granted that honor. He had doubts still, but Vasily was right, if he didn’t feel at least a modicum of safety he shouldn’t have turned up at the office this morning. He could have had Christine protected and safe easily, but he wanted to speak to her face to face. She was his friend and she deserved that. Now, Jim...Jim deserved something too.

“Fine, whatever. Go on then,” Jim said, interrupting Leonard’s thoughts as he put his hands in his pockets and refused to look at Leonard. The floor seemed to be of great interest to him.

Leonard took in the man in front of him. There was one thing that could really keep him here. But it hadn’t been offered to him. His mother had taught him to always wait for his presents. To never demand or take, to be patient and good things would come to those who wait. The downcast look on Jim was making him rethink what his mother had told him. Jim had pushed and Leonard had backed away. Jim had then respected his decision even if he didn’t like it. Just another thing that made him like and respect the man.

His marriage hadn’t ended well because he hadn’t insisted on what he wanted or needed. Maybe he needed to insist for once in his life and good manners be damned.

“Jim,” he said quietly. “There’s one thing that might keep me here, now that I think upon it.”

“Really. Change your mind so quickly, Bones?” Jim was idly pushing one foot back and forth across the floor, scuffing the shine on his shoes on the cheap linoleum.

“Jim,” Leonard said. “Jim,” he repeated louder, trying to get Jim to look at him. “It’s something I’ve wanted and something I was thinking about all last night, but I thought it was selfish. So, ask me to stay.”

Jim snapped his head up. “What?”

“Ask me to stay,” Leonard repeated.

Jim grabbed the lapels of his jacket and tugged hard. Leonard stumbled forward, his hands reaching to grab hold of Jim before he fell body-first into him. Jim raised his head and brought their lips together in a clash of teeth. Leonard pushed back, softening the pressure so that the kiss wasn’t an uncomfortable one, but one of desire and heat instead.

When they finally broke apart from the kiss, Jim smiled at him.

“You can resign Special Agent Dr. Leonard H. McCoy on one condition,” he offered.

“What?” Leonard asked warily. A Jim promise was something always to be concerned about. There had to be a trap somewhere.

“As long as you keep your handcuffs,” Jim announced with a wide grin.

Leonard growled and pushed Jim back onto his desk. He proceeded to show Jim exactly what he thought of that idea.

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Notes:_
> 
> Well, now that’s over I have a little link to share with you all. As a special treat I have a "DVD Extra" or an alternative take on a scene from the story. One of the people who had the opportunity to watch me write away, was actually watching as I was writing in gdocs. There came a section where I paused while I thought about how to word the next section, so they took over and helped me out. ;) So, [here be](http://nikki4noo.livejournal.com/95419.html) a cracky alternative take on a scene. There is even art!
> 
> They also came up with a summary for the story that I find hilarious and have been waiting to share. I think it is actually a little more accurate than the one I ended up with, but it gives away a few plot points so I couldn’t actually use it. :)
> 
>  _Boy meets boy. Boy handcuffs boy and discovers his previously unknown bondage fetish. Boy realizes the badboy image is just a facade. Boy discovers bisexuality. Twice. Kissing becomes a communication scheme. Bad guys get caught and then more kissing ensues._
> 
> A lot of the information and practices about the FBI and Interpol came from their own websites. Interpol really can’t interfere and can only offer advice, they can be present though. Poor Spock was going to have a bigger part to play in the capture of Nero, but he just had to stick within the rules.
> 
> Iowa doesn’t have an FBI Office, hence the mention of Omaha which is the office that has jurisdiction over some of Iowa, including Riverside. The San Francisco office is really on the 13th floor.
> 
> Popov means Priest, I wonder why I used that as a surname for Kirill? :D There might have been a few other shout outs to past roles hiding amongst this story too.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the story. I had a great time writing it and imagining the crew in the strange world of late 1990’s San Francisco.


	9. Hiding in Plain Sight - "DVD extra"

“I’m Special Agent in Charge, Captain Christopher Pike, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s San Francisco Office,” Pike said.

Nero looked up at him from the position where he had been sitting cross legged on the floor, his hands cuffed securely behind him. Jim got his first look up-close at the man that had struck fear into the hearts of many. Nero ignored him in favor of the authoritative silverback.

“Hello Christopher. I’m Nero.”

Nero’s dark eyes were captivating. Christopher could see himself drowning the deepest pools of dark chocolate; luscious, rich, and more than a little bit bittersweet from failure. Christopher had never realized what tribal tattoos did for his aging libido. Maybe Kirk had the right idea after all. Hooking his hand around Nero’s right arm, he hauled the man up for an up-close and personal investigation into the recesses of the man’s mouth and tonsils as conducted by his own sensitive, flexible tongue. The warrior’s thick, toned muscles practically diffused passion through Chris’s skin and was more potent than any Viagra. His newly awakened libido demanded satisfaction, and Chris was not the type to share his war spoils. It didn’t matter-- he was willing to reward his hard-working team with their own individual compensation.

“Sulu, go shag Pavel senseless; Jim, go jump your Bones. Spock, Uhura, go celebrate the fact you’re biologically capable of making a new generation. Cupcake, go get your mack on with Hannity, she’s been checking you out for the past three months of your partnership and the UST is thick enough a man can’t think straight. Okay, I’m going to go fully interrogate the prisoner. Anyone need condoms? There are a bunch in the glove box. Okay, go team!”

Popping two pills for a little extra staying power, he reflected on the length and girth of Nero’s manly feet. Reflexively swallowing, he also considered the biological implications. “Damn, that Viagra was a good investment,” Pike muttered. And he still had all evening long to enjoy it. Besides, he still needed a viable opportunity to christen Interrogation room 2 and squad car 45. Kirk shouldn’t have all the fun seducing possible witnesses. Though Christopher found it edifying to realize he had a bondage kink. And from the looks of things, Mr. Nero seemed rather excited about the handcuff developments as well. Maybe he could call his old friend at the county madhouse to get him a straitjacket. As Pike led the handcuffed man away to squad car 45, he couldn’t help rubbing his hands over the cuffs, as they met the delicate skin of the wrists and the expensive $500 suit jacket he wore. Later, he’d ask Nero what gave him the right to attack those innocents; for now, he was wound up tighter than a gnat’s fanny stretched across a fencepost. And he had some pillaging to do. Arrr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Click to view the art in all it's glory...
> 
>   
>   
>    
> [   
> ](http://pics.livejournal.com/nikki4noo/pic/0000hsg6/)   
>   
> ---


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